SOUTH AFFRICA: Impact Of New Immigration Regulations Not Clear Yet

The Portfolio Committee on Tourism has heard that the impact of the new visa immigration regulations cannot be conclusively determined as data has not been received from Statistics South Africa (Stats-SA).

South African Tourism (SAT) was briefing the Committee on third and fourth quarter expenditure for 2013/14. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Thulani Nzima, said the big impacts on a decrease in tourism numbers were xenophobic attacks, the Ebola outbreak and capacity to process visa applications.

"The impact of the new immigration regulations will be clear once first quarter tourism figures have been received from Stats-SA," Mr Nzima said.

The Acting Chairperson of the Committee, Ms Sharon Makhubela-Mashele, asked if SAT had statistics on child trafficking. "The truth is people need not be worried about the impact of the regulations, as one child trafficked would be one child too many. Some parents have one child and if that child is trafficked the pain is too much," she said.

Ms Makhubela-Mashele said the issue of provinces marketing their own interests should be investigated. "Provinces tend to prioritise themselves instead of branding the country. Is this a matter that SAT is looking into? Is there a strategy in working with the provinces, especially when they host business events, to ensure they market South Africa? The reality is business events do translate into tourism events even if they last for one day," she said.

Committee Member Mr Rudy Krumbock said that in the past 10 years SAT had never appeared before the Committee to say it had not received data from Stats-SA. "This is worrying. This is the time Stat-SA should be on top of their game. Why is this happening?" he asked. SAT should not rely exclusively on Stats-SA for tourism data, he advised.

Committee Member Ms Asanda Matsobeni asked what should be done to ensure the new tourism regulations do not result in a loss of revenue. "What are the threats these immigration regulations impose on growth in domestic tourism?" she asked.

Mr Nzima responded by saying that the immigration regulations had never been an issue for SAT and it avoided arguing about them in public. "We've got strategies of working with (the Department of) Home Affairs and have never criticised the regulations. It is a prerogative and competence of the department to introduce the regulations. SAT has always maintained that preventing child trafficking is a noble cause," he said.

Members also asked if e-tolling had an impact on tourist numbers and if there were better ways to get reliable data. They also wanted to know if the recently introduced tourism incentive package was having an impact. They also raised the issues of grading of facilities and domestic tourism.