In an effort of boosting tourism in South Africa, and also promoting overseas travel options for locals, the country’s Department of Home Affairs will allow citizens of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand to access the country without going through the irksome visa process. Visitor from these four countries now no longer have to worry about applying for a visa while visiting South Africa.
For the sake of an economic crisis that the country is facing now and a fall in visitor numbers, the ‘Rainbow Nation’ has announced this update yesterday.
But the development does not let South Africans automatically eligible to travel to any of these countries visa-free. In fact, out of the four only Qatar has reciprocated.
With this, some more nations – Ghana, Cuba, and Sao Tome and Principe – are also to earmark for the same benefit but negotiations in this regard are only expected to be completed by the end of August.
The visa waiving decision came in the wake of the official tourism figures released a couple of months ago, reflecting a drop in the overall number of visitors to South Africa, particularly from Europe and the Middle East in the first financial quarter of the year, which usually happens to be a proliferating period for the tourism industry of the country.
With more than 10% low in foreign tourist arrivals only between April and May 2019, currently, South Africa’s economy is suffering with gross domestic product (GDP) shrinking by 3.2 per cent in the first three months of this year and unemployment is at its all time high of 29 per cent.
With this in mind, the country’s Department of Home Affairs is constantly reviewing what it can do to help boost economic growth through tourism. As per its estimation there is potential to create 2.1 million jobs in the tourism sector by 2028.
Out of 193 UN members, South Africa has already waived the visa requirement for 82 nations.
In contrary, the south African government is also planning to come down hard on undocumented migrants and tighten up immigration laws to help protect South Africa’s borders. This appears to be in sharp contrast to their pledge to make travel to South Africa easier, especially for citizens of members of the SADC.
