Tourism industry slates Home Affairs’ unabridged birth certificate changes

Source: Tourism Update, 05/10/2018

SA Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba, today announced a number of
changes to make it easier for tourists, business people and academia
to come to South Africa.
The SA tourism industry reacted positively to the initial economic
recovery plan announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on September
21, anticipating a possible scrapping of the tourism-repressing
unabridged birth certificate (UBC) requirement. However, Gigaba’s
detailing of the amendments at a media briefing on Tuesday, September
25, has been received with disappointment across the private tourism
industry.
The UBC regulation amendments include:
• Instead of requiring all foreign nationals travelling with minors to
carry documentation proving parental consent for the minor to travel,
“we will rather strongly recommend that travellers carry this
documentation”
• Immigration officials will only insist on documentation by
exception, for instance high-risk situations, rather than for all
travellers
• Rather than denying entry where documentation is absent, travellers
will be given an opportunity to prove parental consent
While SA Tourism CEO, Sisa Ntshona, says this is the first major key
reform in the tourism space as far as immigration is concerned,
tourism stakeholders across the industry have voiced strong concerns.
CEO of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa) David
Frost, says the industry had expected full clarity on how the
regulations would be amended. “Instead, Home Affairs issued an
obfuscated message that serves only to confuse travellers. We believe
the requirement to produce Unabridged Birth Certificates must be
eliminated immediately across the board to ensure South Africa’s
competitiveness as a tourism destination and remove any confusion
around the requirements for foreign minors travelling to South Africa.”
Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, Interim CEO of the Tourism Business Council of
South Africa (TBCSA), concurs, adding that the TBCSA has engaged with
government on the negative impact of these regulations, requesting
statistics on child trafficking through international airports �` which
never happened. “The announcement today doesn’t change anything; Home
Affairs is once again circling around this issue.”
The airline industry has also expressed its disappointment, with CEO
of the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa (BARSA), June
Crawford, saying that BARSA is concerned at the lack of clear action
to address and reverse the negative effects of the unabridged birth
certificate requirements, “which the airline and tourism industry has
made numerous representations on”, says Crawford, adding that proof of
parental consent is still in required for foreign travelling minors.
Otto de Vries, CEO of the Association of Southern African Travel
Agents (Asata), believes the UBC requirement has a negative impact on
South Africa’s substantial VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives)
inbound tourist arrivals, with inbound VFR traffic to South Africa
accounting for as much as 3.3 million arrivals in 2016/2017.
Beverley Schafer, Standing Committee Chairperson on Economic
Opportunities, Tourism, and Agriculture; and Democratic Alliance (DA)
Western Cape Spokesperson on Economic Opportunities, Tourism, and
Agriculture, comments that while the DA in the Western Cape welcomes
the relaxation of UBCs for foreign national minors, she is concerned
about the understaffing of immigration counters at Cape Town
International Airport.