Families frustrated with SA visa rules

Source: IOL, 21/12/2015

London/ Johannesburg - Up to 20 families a day are being denied
boarding when they turn up at Heathrow for flights to South Africa.



There is growing frustration in South Africa's tourism industry as the
fallout from onerous requirements becomes clear, with fewer tourists
visiting the country and hotel rooms left empty.


In the busiest week of the year for British tourists flying to the
country, dozens are falling foul of draconian new rules that demand a
full birth certificate for each child.


There is growing frustration in South Africa's tourism industry as the
fallout from onerous requirements becomes clear, with fewer tourists
visiting the country and hotel rooms left empty.


The new regulations - which make it more difficult for travellers with
children and for visitors from countries such as China that require
visas - are biting at a time when the South African economy badly
needs a boost.


South Africa's home affairs department has said the measures are
intended to prevent child trafficking and government officials claim
30 000 children are trafficked in the country every year.


However, the department has recorded just 23 cases of child
trafficking over the past three years.


Grant Hughes, 45, from Suffolk, was booked to fly from Heathrow to
Addis Ababa and on to Durban with Ethiopian Airlines last
Wednesday.


He was travelling with his fiancée to the city for their wedding and
was accompanied by his children, 11 and 15.


But the airline, which had not told them birth certificates were
obligatory, refused to let them board the plane.


Responsibility rests with passengers to ensure they have the necessary
documents to enter a country.


Airlines face fines from the South African authorities if they carry
passengers under 18 who do not have a birth certificate and are
therefore inadmissible.


"I would have accepted it had it just been me who had made an
oversight," said Mr Hughes.


"However, we were told that this is a regular occurrence and roughly
10 families a night are being turned away across various airlines."
David Frost, chief executive of the Southern African Tourism Services
Association, said: "It's an appalling way to behave when we should be
doing everything to foster tourism. With the rand so favourable, we
should have had double-digit growth but, out of the UK, we have been
basically flat." On a typical long-haul flight departing for South
Africa, he said, between 10 and 20 people are being denied
boarding.


British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and South African Airways, which fly
direct from the UK to Johannesburg and Cape Town, say they do all they
can to inform passengers about the rules.


BA emailed all customers who have travelled to South Africa in the
past year, as well as those with advance bookings.


The majority of denied-boarding cases known to The Independent involve
passengers who book through online travel agents for airlines that do
not fly direct.


A leading travel industry figure, who did not want to be named, said:
"South Africa looks intent on shutting down family tourism. Kenya and
Tanzania can't believe their luck - this is the best promotion they've
ever had."


Lorenzo Fioramonti, a University of Pretoria professor and Unesco
chair in regional integration and migration issues, said criminals
behind child trafficking "can easily bribe officials or forge [birth]
certificates to travel... Any graphic designer with basic abilities
could forge one."


An official at Johannesburg's main airport was recently suspended over
accusations he tried to solicit a "fine" from a group of schoolgirls
on a student exchange by claiming they had the incorrect documents,
according to the Association of Southern African Travel Agents.



Other tourists have been prevented from boarding flights, included a
group of Dutch teenagers travelling to do aid work.


In a separate immigration requirement, as of last year visitors from
countries requiring visas, such as China and India, must apply in
person at a South African office in their home country so that their
biometric data can be collected.


Often this would mean a flight to the nearest big city so many
tourists are simply choosing to go elsewhere.


An open letter from 20 international airlines last year warned that
the immigration requirements would be a "tourism, PR, economic and
political disaster".


The South African government conceded in October that the new rules
had had "unintended consequences" and promised a number of revisions
but domestic tourism officials say it is dragging its feet on
implementing changes.
The Independent