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| The departure terminal at OR Tambo will soon split foreign travellers from locals. |
HOME Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba yesterday released what he
termed “yet another impressive increase in the number” in the passport count of
in- and out-bound travellers during last year’s festive season.
Speaking at the Government Communications and Information Services
head office in Pretoria, Gigaba said from December 9, 2016 to January 14, South
Africa’s ports of entry recorded over 5,5 million people entering or leaving the
country. This is year-on-year increase of 3,78%.
“In spite of perceptions in some quarters, South Africa remains an
attractive tourist destination,” said Gigaba and, when comparing statistics, the
growth seems solid.
The UN’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) reported worldwide
tourism grew by four percent in 2016 and Brazil, which compares to South Africa
in terms of distance and cost, managed to grow tourism by only 4,8%, despite
hosting the Olympics last year.
But most of South Africa’s foreign visitors during the festive
season came from Lesotho, followed by Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana,
UK, U.S., Namibia, Germany and Zambia.
Tourism operators argue that Home Affairs chased off the geese that
lay the golden pounds, dollars and francs with onerous birth certificate
requirements.
Home Affairs did say in February 2016 that foreigners no longer
need unabridged birth certificates. In the next year, South Africans applying
for new passports for minors will receive a document detailing both parents’
particulars, and that this would be the accepted travel document instead of the
unabridged birth certificate.
The process, however, still needs to be rolled out and tourism
bodies are advising inbound travellers to still get the birth certificates, as
every customs official seems to have a different interpretation of Home Affairs’
decrees.
The DA said the uncertainties and extra costs caused by Gigaba’s
demand for unabridged birth certificates had earlier last year prevented 13 246
people from travelling to South Africa.
Citing statistics provided by the Tourism Business Council of South
Africa (TBCSA) presented in the portfolio committee on tourism meeting in
Parliament last year, SA shadow tourism minister James Vos said taking into
account that a tourist to South Africa spends on average R13 000 per day,
Gigaba’s demand has denied R7,51 billion to local businesses.
Vos said South Africa needed to make it easy for tourists with
strong currencies to benefit from the exchange rate by implementing e-visas.
“This will streamline tourist facilitation, reduce turnaround time
and make visa applications safer and more reliable,” Vos said in a
statement.
Gigaba praised the punctuality of Cape Town, OR Tambo and King
Shaka airports, which were listed among the world’s top 10 most punctual ports.
But Vos said a lack of properly trained migration officers at OR Tambo had in
October last year caused visitors to queue at peak times for between 90 minutes
and four hours.
Vos cited TBCSA stats which claimed that delays at these airports
saw 800 passengers miss their connecting flights.
Gigaba said in his speech yesterday that the festive season plan
had included “a deliberate response to lack of capacity at some ports of entry”.
He said additional staff who were deployed at OR Tambo showed the
“challenge” at this airport was mainly around resources. He admitted that, now
that the deployed staff had been withdrawn, maintaining the same levels of
efficiency and effectiveness posed serious challenges necessitating
action.
“OR Tambo as a strategic hub requires additional resources on a
permanent basis. It is for this reason that the department, with limited
resources, plans to increase capacity at this airport. To this end, we have
allocated R25 million for the 2017/18 financial year, and therefore we should be
able to appoint an additional 58 immigration officials and fully capacitate our
management team.”
A further increase in staff capacity is planned for the 2018/19
financial year, with an additional budget allocation of R17 million. A proposal
to separate citizen and foreign travellers in the departure terminal, in the
same way as in the arrival terminal, is also on the cards.
