Why Cyril Ramaphosa's visa changes will not boost tourism, according to airlines
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s measures to relax visa regulations are inadequate to boost tourism arrivals to SA, according to the Board of Airline Representatives of SA (Barsa). Barsa represents major airlines operating in the country. Ramaphosa announced the visa changes last week as part of the government’s stimulus package to boost the economy. This comes three years after SA introduced the controversial visa regulations. The visa rules have hit the country’s travel and tourism sector, which accounted for about 9% of GDP in 2017, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
The regulations required travellers with minors to produce an unabridged birth certificate for the minor, as well as a letter of parental consent if the child was not travelling to or from SA with both parents. The requirements also stipulated that foreigners who wanted to visit SA had to apply for visas in person at SA embassies abroad, and visitors needed to have their biometric data captured at an...
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