I had a long overdue chat with an old friend yesterday, one committed to serving the nation. A man who, despite all the obvious challenges, continues to do his best from within the governing structures. But for the first time my usual teasing about whether he is managing to fix things didn’t raise a chuckle. “It’s politics,” he responded wearily, “everything is politics.” The bedevilment of a developing country. The curse of a land where political power-plays trump to what is so obviously best for the economy. My friend didn’t really need to explain – the damage of bureaucratic bungling is evident all across the country. But now it’s hitting tourism, one of the few remaining centres of excellence. As this Financial Times of London piece laments, the malaise has now reached tourism, the one sector where the nation’s natural advantages were enough to overcome political meddling. The worst thing about combining ignorance with power is those pulling the levers creating chaos are blissfully unaware of the consequences of their actions. In South Africa, their inability to even consider their role is aided by a convenient scapegoat called Apartheid that can be dragged out as required. Does SA need a Greek Tragedy before its citizenry awake to reality? – Alec Hogg
By Andrew England
With the lure of pristine beaches, stunning wine lands and spectacular wildlife parks, South Africa’s tourism sector has been one of the few bright spots of the country’s ailing economy.
Since suffering a blip during a 2009 recession, tourist arrivals have grown at a healthy rate of 7-14 per cent annually, with the industry providing more than 1.5m jobs.
Yet in the first three months of this year – the second half of the southern hemisphere summer – there was a 6 per cent fall in arrivals, easily the biggest quarterly decline since the advent of democracy in 1994.
Several factors are seen to be behind the dip, including the lingering stigma of last year’s Ebola outbreak in west Africa, even though South Africa is thousands of miles away and reported no cases of the disease.
But much of the blame is now being placed on the government’s decision to tighten visa rules.
The first significant change came into force in October, with travellers to South Africa forced to appear personally at a consulate to provide biometric data when they apply for visas. A second substantive change came into effect at the beginning of June, requiring children travelling with parents to have an unabridged birth certificate with them.
While experts said it was too early to gauge the impact of the second measure, David Frost, chief executive of the Southern African Tourism Services Association, said the first had “decimated arrivals out of China and had a major impact on arrivals out of India”.
“The important thing is that [Chinese] operators have actually taken us out of brochures, so it’s akin to being taken off the shelf – nobody is going to buy a product if they can’t see it,” Mr Frost said.
South African officials have also said Air China is reconsidering its flights to South Africa because of the visa requirements. China is critical to global tourism as it accounts for the biggest number of outward bound tourists, with the figures growing rapidly.
But in China, South Africa had just two consulates – one in Beijing, the other in Shanghai. That meant people in other areas could have to travel long distances to apply for a visa. An official at South Africa’s home affairs department said extra visa centres had recently opened in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
Grant Thornton, the accountants, said South Africa’s tourism is entering its “first serious crisis stage” citing figures showing that in the first quarter arrivals from China fell 38 per cent, those from India were down 13 per cent and there was a 15 per cent fall in visitors from Nigeria. It estimated that the drop in arrivals in the first quarter equated to a loss of 150,000 visitors and an economic loss of R1.6bn ($128m). If expected growth was factored in, the loss rose to 265,000 visitors and R2.8bn, it said.
“A loss of this magnitude in foreign tourist arrivals is unprecedented,” said Lee-Anne Bac, a director at Grant Thornton. “There will most definitely also be job losses especially in niche tourism operators that focus on specific foreign tourism markets ie. China and India.”
Ms Bac said the biometric requirement was relatively standard but added that Pretoria implemented the changes before it had the systems and infrastructure in place, adding to confusion and complications.
South Africa typically attracts fewer than 10m visitors a year and the home affairs department has defended itself against criticism and said the measures were necessary to improve security and prevent child trafficking.
The department said it was wrong simply to blame the visa regulations for the fall in arrivals, saying the tourism sector had to consider how it promoted the country in a competitive industry.
But the government has been accused of failing properly to consult the industry.
“It’s a horrific message that it sends to both foreign and domestic investment: that this is the way you treat an industry that accounts for 9 per cent of the economy,” Mr Frost said.
Peggy Drodskie, acting chief executive of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the measures were also affecting businesses employing expatriates.
She gave the example of an American working for a US multinational in South Africa who returned home to renew his work visa. When he and his family were to return to South Africa the visitor found that his school-age son did not have the requisite documents to get a South African visa. As a result, the family decided not to return.
“Our members are very concerned about it,” Ms Drodskie said. “We have been told by some of our multinational members that multinationals are tending not to be bringing their skilled people into South Africa.”
(c) 2015 The Financial Times Ltd.
