johan rebel

I just asked somebody at the executive level at one of southern Africa's largest luxury lodge operators. He confirms that business is down, that customers of theirs with kids have been denied boarding in several instances, and that SA's image as a welcoming tourist destination is suffering. Fortunately, most of their business is outside SA.

Anecdotal? Sure. Shrill and hysterical? No way!

Johan

Sabasi

Until proven by something more than anecdotes and until travelers with a reasonable amount of intelligence are barred from traveling to South Africa, the screaming and crying in the "news" media is indeed hysterical.

johan rebel

"The Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, has dismissed a request to have the country’s immigration regulations debated in the National Assembly. The request was made by Member of Parliament and Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Tourism, James Vos. In a reply to Vos’s request, Mbete said: It is my view that while this is an important matter, it may be taken forward by other means in the near future.”

Vos also pointed out that a report by Grant Thornton suggested that the impact of the new visa regulations on the South African economy in 2014 was a negative R2,6bn and a loss of more than 5 800 jobs. “The report predicts that, in 2015, the number of foreign tourists lost due to changes in the immigration regulations is likely to increase to 100 000, with a loss of 9 300 jobs and the total nett loss to the South African GDP of around R4.1 billion (€275m),” he said."

"News" source

Gosh, so many hysterical people in South Africa! Members of Parliament (no surprises there), the ignorant and no doubt incompetent accountants and consultants at Grant Thornton, executives at safari lodge companies . . . I could go on and on.

I bet their voices all sound really shrill as well. I hope the country has a sufficient supply of earplugs.

Johan

Sabasi

http://www.gt.co.za/news/2015/07/sou...ctor-in-crisis
Yeah, the hysteria continues. The amount of dumb "thinking" by the "news" media you love to quote is astounding. And if one were to actually read what the accountants said, one would realize that there is no scientific evidence behind attributing the tourism losses to one cause or another.

johan rebel

It is therefore fortunate indeed that there is still one single voice of reason left on the African continent, impervious to hysteria, of sound judgment and in possession of all the facts, whatever the matter under discussion. Immigration, visa rules, poaching, corruption, trophy hunting, you name it.

What's really disconcerting is the sheer number of people on this board and elsewhere who express concerns that are obviously purely figments of their imagination. They all need to have their heads examined.

Johan

Sabasi

Thanks!

johan rebel

The pleasure is of course entirely mine.

IATA and SATSA join the ranks of the shrill and hysterical

"June 2015 saw a dramatic 26% decline year-on-year in air ticketing revenue for tickets purchased to South Africa, according to IATA's air ticketing stats."

"David Frost, CEO of SATSA, said: “This is accurate and real-time data, which gives us a parameter of what’s happening with tourism into the country. It is a strong indicator, a 26% decline in air ticketing revenue, that something is not well. What is different this June compared with June 2014? The only thing we can look at is the unabridged birth certificates.”"

Source

Johan

B747-437B

Rubbish. The main difference between 2014 and 2015 has nothing to do with unabridged birth certificates (far less than 26% of visitors to SA are even affected by the whole brouhaha), but rather the increased burden placed on business and tourist visitors who require visas. Inbound tourism from India and China in particular has collapsed as a result of requiring in-person visa applications and biometric collections. A number of businesses (including my employer) are also relocating offices out of SA due to the lengthy delays and paperwork burdens in acquiring travel visas for our staff to visit the SA office. Those actions have caused far more damage to the number of visitors to SA than anything to do with birth certificates for kids.

Sabasi

But the "news" media cited on this forum are always accurate, especially when quoting someone obviously talking out of their hiney.

thijsseh

I agree that the unabridged birth certificate issue (over-the-top as it may be), is not the main reason for the drop in tourism. The burden placed to obtain a visa is certainly an important factor. One needs to bear in mind though, that this not all that different from the process required for many other countries. Schengen states and UK come to mind.
Another reason, which is not often mentioned here is the deteriorating picture painted about South Africa, at least in Europe where I extensively travel (and from where I submit this reply). The amount of violence, the use of intimidation by so many groups when trying to push through their 'demands', the general failure of 'real democracy', where one would respect the opinion of others, these factors admittedly do not directly influence the experience of a tourist all that much. But the picture that is painted makes it abundantly clear that the 'magic' of the transition to democracy in 1994 is over. South Africa is fast becoming 'just another African country' as far as tourists are concerned.
A favourable exchange rate and a beautiful country are not by themselves enough to promote tourism to South Africa!

Sabasi

Plus irrational fears of Ebola, South Africa's reputation for not doing much about poaching, and the economic uncertainties in China and other countries. A decline in tourist numbers almost never has "one" cause, despite what the "news" media and travel providers/experts would have us believe.

B747-437B

Except that in practice it is actually a lot more difficult and time consuming. I can get long term multi-year business visitor visas for the UK and Schengen states, and I can get them processed in 2-3 business days with the right paperwork. South Africa requires me to go back to them every 6 months and takes a week or longer to process. And when the biometric machine breaks down, they don't process any visas for a month or longer. And SA has far fewer visa issuing posts than either the UK or Schengen states, which means multiple days away from work simply to travel to the visa post to re-apply for the same visa every few months.

At the end of the day, there are other countries in Africa that make it a lot easier to do business. Employment law is the biggest factor that prompted us to consider moving our African operations HQ away from SA, but the new visa restrictions were the last straw and confirmed our decision.

johan rebel

Not to mention the biometric visa requirements that are hammering tourism from India and China.

The inability to deal with (rhino) poaching is not doing SA's reputation any good, but it is much worse in most other African countries.

On the other hand, the Rand is plunging, which should be greatly to SA's advantage. A US dollar buys you almost 27% more Rands than it did a year ago.

In any case, introducing pointless regulations that only deter tourist doesn't exactly help.

"clients of mine were on holiday and their (17 year old) child was hospitalised. Mother and the other (19 year old child) returned home and the father stayed with sick daughter till the doctor gave permission to return. Let us all guess what happened at the border control at check-in when both parents was not with the 17 year old child! Great stuff, keep on doing the good work on child trafficking."

Johan

Sabasi

Visas are "pointless" in many cases, too.

Sabasi

http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/tra...ddy-statistics