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Impact of visa regulations dire - James Vos

Source: James Vos - DA, 21/09/2015

DA MP says there has been a drop of R64.4m in holiday accommodation
revenues in only three months .R64.4 million lost every three months
due to biometrics in-person visa regulations

The latest figures provided by Statistics SA (StatsSA) today on the
accommodation industry reflect a total drop of R64.4 million in
holiday accommodation revenues throughout South Africa in only three
months, between April and June 2015

This is a dire situation – and can be ascribed, in no small measure,
to the harsh visa regulations, first introduced last year, that
require in-person biometric data to be collected before the visitor
departs from their home country.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Fatima Chohan, said in a
stakeholders` workshop on September 18 that the department is
considering collecting biometric data on arrival from visitors to
South Africa. This system needs to be implemented without further
delay: For every month we delay this move, millions of rands are being
lost to the economy and more jobs are being lost.

It is now time for Tourism Minister, Derek Hanekom, to pull out all
the stops and insist on a meeting with his Home Affairs counterpart
Malusi Gigaba. The ministers must, as a matter of urgency, thrash out
a plan to, without further ado, adopt the biometrics on-arrival
system, in which biometric testing is conducted in South Africa once
visitors arrive here – and not before they depart from their home
countries.

This must be done before any more jobs and businesses shut
down.

Minister Hanekom should use the alarming StatsSA
figures to propel Minister Gigaba to act immediately to save the
tourism industry.
I will write a letter to Mr Hanekom to provide the Portfolio Committee
on Tourism with substantive evidence as to why he has delayed doing
all in his power to have the visa regulations repealed.

Minister Gigaba should set aside the embarrassment caused to his
department over this debacle for the sake of saving our tourism
industry. Both the fate of thousands of unemployed South Africans and
the country`s economy is at stake.
There are huge benefits to having biometrics on arrival, as it cuts
turnaround time and streamlines tourism facilitation which are key
prerequisites in growing the tourism economy.

In a reply to a DA parliamentary question on visa processing centres,
the Minister of Home Affairs noted that they have no centres currently
in South America and only three in Europe.

With no visa processing centres in South America – a region that
attracted 33 515 visitors from January to May 2015 according to South
African Tourism (SAT), how does Minister Hanekom think the tourism
industry is going to survive if we completely exclude such a large
number of tourists?

Europe makes up the second largest number of tourists - with 589 333
visitors having arrived from January to May 2015, according to
SAT.

How does Minister Gigaba think only three visa
processing centres are enough to facilitate the number of tourists
wanting to travel to South Africa? He is intentionally sending the
tourism industry on a death path?

The tourism industry creates jobs at all skill levels and is able to
absorb a high number of unskilled workers.

The DA will not relent in its fight to provide more job opportunities
for South Africans because we believe every citizen has the right to
empower themselves.

Statement issued by James Vos MP, DA Shadow Minister of Tourism,
September 21 2015

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