South Africa’s tourism industry is on the mend after its poor performance in 2015, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom told Parliament.
More than one million tourists arrived in South Africa in January, a 15% increase from the same month last year. In February, 18% more international visitors arrived than the previous year.
This showed that the industry was resilient and “recovering rapidly” after a 6.8% decline in international tourists last year compared with 2014, he said.
Quoting estimates from the World Travel and Tourism Council, Hanekom said that tourism was set to earn R120 billion in export earnings and to contribute more than R380 billion to the economy this year.
Presenting his R2-billion budget vote speech, Hanekom admitted that the new visa regulations had aggravated the negative impact of global and economic pressures on the industry last year.
But he said that progress had been made in implementing Cabinet’s decisions on changes to the immigration relations. For instance, after the decision to allow travel agencies to apply for visas on behalf of travellers, tourism from China was “rebounding very strongly” – numbers nearly doubled in January this year compared with the same month last year.
Tourism from India was still being held back due to the long delays in obtaining visas, but his department was working with the home affairs department to find a solution.
Responding to Hanekom’s speech, Democratic Alliance member of Parliament James Vos said that it was a case of “too much too late”.
South Africa had failed to subject the new regulations to impact assessments prior to implementation. Had it done so, “we could have avoided these disastrous consequences”, said Vos.
Amid a slump in tourism and intense lobbying and pressure, the government backtracked on some of its controversial new visa regulations in October, and concessions were introduced.
More than one million tourists arrived in South Africa in January, a 15% increase from the same month last year. In February, 18% more international visitors arrived than the previous year.
This showed that the industry was resilient and “recovering rapidly” after a 6.8% decline in international tourists last year compared with 2014, he said.
Quoting estimates from the World Travel and Tourism Council, Hanekom said that tourism was set to earn R120 billion in export earnings and to contribute more than R380 billion to the economy this year.
Presenting his R2-billion budget vote speech, Hanekom admitted that the new visa regulations had aggravated the negative impact of global and economic pressures on the industry last year.
But he said that progress had been made in implementing Cabinet’s decisions on changes to the immigration relations. For instance, after the decision to allow travel agencies to apply for visas on behalf of travellers, tourism from China was “rebounding very strongly” – numbers nearly doubled in January this year compared with the same month last year.
Tourism from India was still being held back due to the long delays in obtaining visas, but his department was working with the home affairs department to find a solution.
Responding to Hanekom’s speech, Democratic Alliance member of Parliament James Vos said that it was a case of “too much too late”.
South Africa had failed to subject the new regulations to impact assessments prior to implementation. Had it done so, “we could have avoided these disastrous consequences”, said Vos.
Amid a slump in tourism and intense lobbying and pressure, the government backtracked on some of its controversial new visa regulations in October, and concessions were introduced.
