Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom remains concerned about the potential negative effect of South Africa’s new visa regulations on international tourist arrivals and he reported on Thursday that work was continuing with the Department of Home Affairs to find a resolution to the issue.

Speaking in Cape Town ahead of his Budget Vote, Hanekom said that, while international arrivals grew by 6.6% to 9.5-million in 2014, an analysis of the figures showed a decline in the number of tourists during the second half of the year from countries where a visa was a requirement.

He said the issue could not be swept “under the carpet” and that he was “worried about it”, particularly given the importance of continued tourism growth to South Africa’s job-creation aspirations – it was estimated that one permanent tourism industry job was created for every 11 tourists.

The National Development Plan had set an ambition of creating an additional 225 000 jobs in the sector by 2020; growth which would depend materially on meeting international and domestic tourism growth targets. There were currently about 1.5-million people employed in the sector.

Government was aiming to facilitate a rise in international arrivals to 12-million by 2018 and to expand domestic tourism from 2.8-million people currently, to over 4-million.

The potential negative impact of South Africa's changed visa regime was also flagged in PwC's 'Hospitality Outlook 2015' report, with hospitality industry leader Nikki Forster saying that, while the new regulations were intended to protect South Africa, they could have unforeseen consequences for the tourism and hospitality industries.

“Under the revised regulations tourists to South Africa will have to apply in person for visas to visit South Africa so that biometric data can be reliably collected. In addition, parents and guardians travelling with minors must have an unabridged birth certificate that shows the names of both parents,” Forster noted, adding that the regulations might be viewed by tourists as "onerous".

"Worldwide, governments are focusing on efforts to relax visa requirements to promote tourism. Tourism industry commentators in South Africa say the regulations have already adversely affected travel from China and India," Forster said.

Hanekom indicated that ongoing electricity load-shedding was also a threat to the performance of the sector and announced plans to begin introducing solar photovoltaic (PV) energy generation to key State-owned facilities and heritage sites.

SOLAR FOR ROBBEN ISLAND

A procurement programme was being launched for the installation of a solar PV facility at Robben Island, which was currently dependent on diesel generation for its electricity supply.

Hanekom said the pilot project would be completed during the current financial year and that lessons drawn from the project would be used to carry out similar projects at national parks, such as the Kruger National Park, and various botanical gardens.

He anticipated that these lessons would also help guide similar investments into clean and renewable energy by private establishments.

The Minister also acknowledged the potential negative fallout for tourism arising from the recent xenophobic attacks, but said that the efforts by government to deal with the problem should help in mitigating the effects on the industry.