Overseas arrivals for the first quarter of 2015 are down nearly 7% from 632 642 in 2014 to 589 802, according to arrival stats published by Statistics South Africa.
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The markets hardest hit are China and India, which are down 38% and 13% respectively. For the first quarter of the year, which includes Chinese New Year when Chinese nationals go on holiday, South Africa saw 19 104 arrivals from this market, compared with last year’s 30 767. The trade has blamed new immigration regulations that require visa applications be made in person. Since the introduction of this requirement last year, SA has been taken out of a number of marketing brochures in this market.
Traditional source markets are also down. Germany dropped by 3% to 85 254 from 87 949 in 2014. The US – once the second-largest source market for SA – dropped 7,86% during the first quarter of the year, with 64 125 arrivals compared with last year’s 69 592. Hoever, The UK was up over 5% from 122 719 arrivals in 2014 to 129 149 for 2015.
The drop has been attributed both to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa and the introduction of South Africa’s new immigration regulations. At the beginning of last month, new requirements also took effect for travelling minors, who are required to produce an unabridged birth certificate or the equivalent thereof at SA’s ports of entry.
A report by Grant Thornton, commissioned by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) suggests that the in person visa requirement cost the country R2.6 billion last year and will cost a further R4.1 billion this year, while the requirements for minors could cost R10 billion.
