Visa rules may keep tourists out

Published Feb 24, 2015

Share

Cape Town - The Western Cape government is finalising a tourism action plan that will pump an extra R28 billion into the economy and create 324 000 new jobs by 2019.

But these efforts could be scuppered by load shedding and restrictive visa restrictions.

Alan Winde, MEC of economic opportunities, said on Monday that electricity blackouts would affect the tourism industry.

“I am worried that this will put a lot of small and medium enterprises out of business.”

Winde said the action plan, which will be presented to the cabinet in August for approval, would look at ways of encouraging especially smaller businesses to find innovative solutions to the power crisis.

“Tourism is the biggest growth engine in the Western Cape – it outperformed any other sector. In the next five years, we will be looking at what we can do differently that creates an environment that allows this sector to go to new heights.”

But Winde said the announcement by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba that tough new visa regulations would still be implemented was “very concerning”.

The US lost more than $600bn after it implemented stringent security measures after 9/11. Restrictive visa regulations would be as obstructive in South Africa, and would do little to address the country’s security concerns.

Despite the challenges, however, international and domestic Western Cape arrivals for last year are at a three-year high with the tourism sector reporting one of the best seasons yet.

Winde said international arrivals in Cape Town in December went up by 3.2 percent compared with the previous year. The figures for January should show an 8.2 percent increase in arrivals year-on-year.

“The numbers are looking up.”

Tourism is currently worth R17bn in the Western Cape annually, and creates formal jobs for more than 200 000 people.

Councillor Roxanne Hoorn, chairwoman of the city’s tourism, events and economic development portfolio, said the direct tourism spend in Cape Town in 2012 was R13.8bn.

The number of bed nights for international tourists increased by 5.9 percent a year between 2009 and 2013, with the average foreign visitor now spending an average of nine nights in the city. Domestic travel had also showed a steady growth with 2.4 million local overnight trips recorded in the province in 2013.

While Cape Town stands out as the destination of choice in the province – Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden recorded its 1 millionth visitor, while the V&A Waterfront attracted 23.8 million visitors last year – there has been an increase in tourist movement to other parts of the province.

The Cape Agulhas National Park in the Overberg showed a 130 percent increase in visitors last year, and De Hoop recorded a 30 percent increase with just over 21 000 visitors.

Events and festivals, such as the Snoek Derby in Yzerfontein, did well to drive crowds to coastal towns last year.

Winde said sporting events were also big business for tourism, with cycling events alone bringing in revenue of R1.5bn.

David Green, the chief executive officer of the V&A Waterfront, said it would open a hub for small businesses with an innovation focus called Workshop 17 at the end of April.

[email protected]

Cape Argus

Related Topics: