SA Tourism has asked tour operators to apply well in advance for visas for Chinese clients travelling to South Africa.
This follows reports that the South African Embassy in Beijing is taking longer than five working days to issue visas. One local operator, who asked to remain anonymous, told Tourism Update that visa delays were a recurring issue that plagued the inbound tourism industry every high season. She said visa applications were taking up to two weeks to be issued. The result was that travel had to be cancelled or delayed, at great cost.
According to the tour operator, there was a shortage of staff in the embassy, a fact confirmed by Bradley Brouwer, SA African Tourism Regional Manager: Asia Pacific. “The matter has been brought to the attention of HQ and they will be deploying two permanent staff responsible for adjudicating visas in December 2013,” he said. He added that SA Tourism was aware of the delays and was working very closely with the embassy to address these.
“Please apply earlier for your clients visas to help alleviate the workload in the mission during busy times, and please be supportive and understanding,” he advised inbound tour operators dealing with the Chinese market.
