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DA to take Home Affairs to task over Cape Town airport R25million losses in duty-free shopping

Source: The Citizen, 10/06/2018

The airport says it incurs losses in duty-free shopping because
international visitors spend close to two hours moving through passport
control.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape province says it will
raise its concerns with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) about the
diminishing number of immigration officials employed at Cape Town
International Airport (CTIA).
The airport said on Wednesday that it loses R25 million in duty-free
shopping because international visitors spend close to two hours moving
through passport control.
Wesgro, the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for
the Western Cape and its capital Cape Town, said the number of
immigration officers available for duty at CTIA counters had decreased
from 82 to 68 despite 750,000 more inbound flight seats to the airport
since 2015.
The home affairs department only opens five counters out of 18 during
peak hours to process on average 35,000 passengers per day, resulting
in an immense bottleneck at passport control, which delays passengers
and cripples airport activity, said DA spokesperson on tourism in the
Western Cape Beverley SchÃ¤fer.
â€œI will be writing to the Western Cape minister of economic
opportunities, tourism, and agriculture, Alan Winde, to engage with
National Treasury over concerns surrounding the diminishing number of
home affairs officials employed at the CTIA when the growth of Cape
Town air access is expected to secure 150,000 more international
inbound seats from 3 new flight routes in 2018 alone,â€ SchÃ¤fer said.

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