It`s time to take tourism seriously - part 2

Source: Tourism Update, 01/01/1970

South Africa is often near the top on any rankings of most
beautiful countries in the world, says Saunders. The country is
also ‘underweight’ in many areas of tourism compared with similar
nations, and, as a destination, Saunders says South Africa has
undisputed competitive advantages.
All this means that there is huge potential for growth. But how
does that potential become real? “The biggest growth market
opportunities for us are India and China; they are the biggest and
fastest growing outbound markets, and are also key markets on the
rest of the continent,” says Saunders.

“The first really easy low-hanging fruit is to fast track a world-
class online eVisa system. It must handle capacity, be easy to
use, documentation requirements must not be onerous and the turn-
around time should be quick,” she says, adding that AI algorithms,
and not human review, should be used for most visa issuance. “And
it must, as soon as possible, have interfaces in multiple
languages, especially Mandarin.”
Saunders points out that if other low-income countries, such as
Ethiopia and Vietnam, can manage an eVisa system like this, South
Africa should be able to as well.
“And while we do that, another quick and immediate win is to
recognise other visas like USA, Schengen, Australia, and the UK,
the way many other countries do,” she says. “This will open up
destination South Africa for many Indian, Chinese, Nigerian, and
other visa-requiring markets overnight.”
Saunders says South Africa also needs a review of visa-requiring
countries, taking particular account of those with tourism
potential, and to drop in its entirety the reciprocity principle.
In July, the Department of Home Offices decided to scrap visa
requirements for various countries, including New Zealand. Aaron
Motsoaledi, Minister of Home Affairs, announced the changes at the
2019 Budget Vote. Motsoaledi also announced that Home Affairs
would increase the number of staff working for the department by
two-and-a-half times to process visas in both India and China. But
as Saunders points out, the commitment was made to up the
processing capacity “this financial year”, which could mean only
by the end of March 2020.
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