Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba’s announcement that minor children travelling to SA would only need to show full documentation "by exception" serves only to confuse travellers‚ says the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa). Gigaba said on Tuesday that instead of requiring all foreign minors to carry documentation proving parental consent for travel‚ the home affairs department would instead strongly recommend that travellers carried this documentation. "Our immigration officials will only insist on documentation by exception — in high-risk situations — rather than for all travellers‚ in line with practice by several other countries‚" he said. But Satsa was not convinced the announcement made the situation better. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates the sector contributed about 9.4% — or R413bn — to GDP in 2017 and employs 1.5-million people.
"Home affairs issued an obfuscated message that serves only to confuse travellers‚ much in the way it did ...
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