Africa > Southern Africa > South Africa > South Africa Tourism issues statement on amended immigration regulations

South Africa: South Africa Tourism issues statement on amended immigration regulations

2016/11/11

Since 2014, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) has been working to help its members and those of the tourism to understand two regulations that are included in the Amended Immigration Regulations as it pertains to travel.

The TBCSA issued a statement to address the persisting challenges that the travel and tourism industry faces with the implementation of the Amended Immigration Regulations. The specific challenges faced by the industry are with the unintended consequences of biometric data capturing for international visitors into the country and the continued requirement of unabridged birth certificates for minors under the age of 18 traveling into the country.

Other pressing concerns are on the requirement for accommodation establishments to make and keep copies of the IDs of guests upon checking in. The statement reads:

TBCSA is an umbrella organization representing the voice of organized travel and tourism businesses in South Africa. We serve to contribute to a competitive, responsible and inclusive travel and tourism economy that in-turn makes a better contribution to the broader economy of South Africa. Our members are businesses whose total contribution to GDP in 2015 reached R375,5 bn (9.4% of SA GDP); that have generated a total of R115.0bn in visitor exports; and have a total of R63.7bn in investments (7.8% of total investment ) – according to the 2016 SA economic impact statement by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

Related Articles

KPMG's South Africa bosses purged over Gupta scandal
2017/09/17 World auditor KPMG cleared out its South African leadership en masse on Friday next damning findings from an internal investigation into work done for businessmen friends of President Jacob Zuma. KPMG's investigation into its work for the Guptas, accused by a public watchdog of improperly influencing government contracts, identified no evidence of crimes or corruption, but found that work done for Gupta family firms "fell considerably short of KPMG's standards", the auditor said in a statement.
Zimbabwe Election Commission keen to avoid Kenyan situation
2017/09/10 Zimbabwe’s election commission says it is keen to avoid a repeat scenario of what happened in Kenya where the presidential polls were nullified last week. Speaking through its chairperson Justice Rita Makarau, the election body said it will conduct next year’s elections in accordance with the country’s electoral laws.
Kenya, Nigeria & S. Africa: biggest winners of Google's Africa tech training
2017/09/09 Alphabet Inc’s Google aims to train 10 million people in Africa in online skills over the next five years in an effort to make them additional employable, its chief executive said on Thursday. The U.S. technology giant as well hopes to train 100,000 software developers in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, a company spokeswoman said. Google’s pledge marked an expansion of an initiative it launched in April 2016 to train young Africans in digital skills. It announced in March it had reached its initial target of training one million people.
Submarine cable deployed in Angola to link Africa to South America
2017/09/09 The project of deploying the initial submarine telecommunication cable in the South Atlantic ocean linking Africa to South America has been launched in Angola’s capital Luanda. The launch of the fibre-optic South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) follows months of marine survey that was completed by multinational telecommunications company Angola Cables in April.
UNWTO: International tourism – strongest half-year results since 2010
2017/09/09 Destinations worldwide welcomed 598 million international tourists in the initial six months of 2017, some 36 million additional than in the same period of 2016. At 6%, increase was well above the trend of recent years, making the current January-June period the strongest half-year since 2010. Visitor numbers reported by destinations around the world reflect strong request for international travel in the initial half of 2017, according to the new UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Worldwide, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 6% compared to the same six-month period last year, well above the sustained and consistent trend of 4% or higher increase since 2010. This represents the strongest half-year in seven years.