SOUTH AFRICA TO RELAX VISA RULES AFTER MONTHS OF DECLINE

Source: Tourism Review, 02/11/2015

The South African government has announced that it will relax its visa
rules after a significant drop in the number of tourists coming to the
country. According to the South African tourism leaders, the current
rules make it very hard for foreigners to visit the country, causing
the sector to lose approximately $540 million in revenues annually.



The relaxation of the rules comes after a committee appointed to look
into the impact of the current visa rules submitted its
recommendations to the country's cabinet.


The new visa rules in South Africa will be of great benefit to
tourists entering the country with children. Under the current rules,
tourists coming with children were required to carry with them an
original birth certificate. While the government has defended this
rule, claiming it was to prevent child trafficking, it has agreed to
relax it, allowing parents to only present an original or certified
copy of birth certificates at the visa application stage.


The visa rules will also be relaxed for tourists from China, India,
and Russia. Chinese citizens were previously required to appear in
person at a South African embassy or consulate to apply for a
visa.

The complicated application process saw a worrying drop
in the number of tourists, forcing the government to relax the visa
application rules.


The measures that will be taken to ease the process include offering
long-term multiple entry visas to frequent travelers. Tourists from
various countries might also receive visa-waiver or be provided with
visas on arrival if they have valid visas from countries such as the
USA, UK, Canada, and other countries that carry out stringent security
checks.


The South African government has also adopted several short-term and
long-term measures that will ease the process of applying for visas
and entering the country. Some of the short-term measures include the
implementation of biometrics capturing systems at entry points,
offering long-term multiple entry visas, introducing tourism programs
for visitors from certain countries, extending the validity of
parental consent affidavits and accepting letters from school
principals as confirmation of travel permits for children on academic
tours. These measures will be implemented in the coming few
months.


The government is also considering other measures, which will be
implemented within a year. These include waiving visa, increasing visa
facilitation centers, issuing of visas on arrivals to tourists with
valid visas from certain countries, upgrading passenger processing
systems and automating the visa application system.


The relaxation of the visa rules by the government has given foreign
nationals with a prospect of visiting South Africa a huge relief. The
new visa rules in South Africa will ease the process of entering the
country, which is expected to bring about an increase in the number of
tourists, and consequently, an increase in the revenue for the tourism
industry.