SA tourism still short of potential

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Inbound tourist numbers in January look impressive on paper, having risen 15.4% compared with January 2015. However, they came off a low base in 2015, a year in which tourist numbers fell 6.8% on 2014 and almost 1% on 2013.

The number of visitors from Africa, the source of most foreign visitors, lifted year-on-year by 15.2% in January to 797,000. Of these, 94% arrived by road, with Zimbabwe and Mozambique making up half of the arrivals.

External factors driving increased arrivals

Arrivals from overseas, the ones that account for most of the big-spend, lifted 16.4% to 214,903 in January. David Frost, Southern African Tourism Services Association CE, is unimpressed. "It is pathetic," he says. "It represents growth of only 5% since January 2014."

Otto de Vries, CE of the Association of SA Travel Agents, also has strong reservations. "SA is not doing anything fantastically well," he says. "Rand weakness is a major contributor to recent increases in foreign arrivals."

De Vries believes terrorist attacks in Paris in November also played a role. "In the months after the 9/11 attacks in the US, overseas tourist arrivals in SA jumped sharply," he says.

Visa requirements reversed growth

In the industry's defence, its efforts to promote growth have been hamstrung by the department of home affairs' heavy-handed regulatory stance.

The first blunder was the imposition in April 2014 of draconian visa requirements for tourists from a number of key markets, including what had been SA's two fastest growing markets, China and India. Among the requirements was that an applicant appear in person at an SA diplomatic mission. For many would-be visitors, it entailed huge inconvenience. They reacted by simply turning their backs on SA.

What had been vigorous growth went into reverse. The number of visitors from China, which grew by 169% between 2008 and 2013 (to 108,219), had by 2015 shrunk by almost a quarter. Tourist arrivals from India, which hit almost 95,000 in 2013, also went into steep decline, falling to just over 78,000 in 2015.

Belatedly, home affairs have recently undertaken some damage control. In China there are now six visa centres and accredited tour operators are permitted to book on behalf of groups. India now has nine visa centres.

But concern remains. "The visa situation is still fraught with problems," says Johan Groenewald, CE of Royal African Discoveries, an Indian inbound tourism specialist. "It is supposed to take five working days to issue a visa, but can take up to 20 days." Groenewald's big concern is that India is moving into its peak holiday season, which runs to June. "Huge damage to SA's image has already been done," he says. "If we have another mess-up, the travel trade will lose all confidence in SA."

People go elsewhere

While home affairs have made some effort on the visa front, it remains adamant on onerous birth certificate requirements. On 1 June 2015, SA became the only country requiring children under 18 entering or leaving the country to have an unabridged birth certificate. "Ten to 30 families a day are being turned away before boarding at overseas airports and do not make it to SA," says Alan Winde, Western Cape minister of economic opportunities.

Says Frost: "It results in huge negative PR. People go elsewhere. We can't measure the number, but it is a big one."

A lot to learn from Australia

Frost believes SA could learn a lot from Australia. "Though they are a more expensive destination and have not had the benefit of as weak a currency, they totally outperform us," he says.

It shows in the figures. In the 12 months to January 2016, Tourism Australia reported 620,500 foreign visitor arrivals, a year-on-year rise of 13.6%. Arrivals from China lifted 55.1% to 114,300, ousting New Zealand from top position. "In Australia the tourism board, government and industry players all work together to promote growth in tourism," says Frost. "They ask: what is hindering it? They then tackle the problems."

In the case of visas, which Frost terms the "new competitive edge" in foreign tourism, they identified 10 things that needed to be done to make visa applications easier. "Australia's home affairs department was instructed to implement the necessary changes," says Frost.

De Vries bemoans the growth opportunities SA's foreign tourism industry is losing out on. "If we did everything right just imagine how many tourists we would get," he says.

Source: Financial Mail