The Tourism Terminator cannot answer 3 questions

THEY are calling Home
Affairs minister, Malusi
Gigaba, the Tourism
Terminator.
Unmoved by the evidence
and growing alarm in the
travel and tourism sectors
about new immigration
regulations, he has just
reaffirmed in a joint
statement with Derek
Hanekom, minister of
Tourism, that they will be
introduced almost unchanged
on October 1.
Our main source markets
for tourism will be hard hit.
Most do not require a visa
and tourists will depart for SA
armed only with a passport.
With no need to call on an
SA mission, why would they
think otherwise. If they are
travelling with a minor they
may get as far as the last
leg before they are denied
boarding. They will return
home shattered, litigating
with their travel agent and
airline. There will be negative
travel trade press coverage
in each market about this
extraordinary regulation.
SA requires the citizens
of most countries to have
a visa. They plan to have
all our missions enabled to
fingerprint and photograph
applicants by October 1. They
are talking about increasing
the number of centres
but where and when they
themselves do not know at
this stage – and it will not be
in time.
With biometric visas issued
at relatively few centres
worldwide, it effectively ends
the convention and group
tour business as we know
it. This will now be limited to
those events or tours where
all the participants come
from the visa-free markets.
An international event
organiser would be foolish
to ask delegates to go to
a destination if it meant
some of them would have
to fly to another centre, or
even another country, to be
fingerprinted as part of the
process for a visa.
Mr Minister, we have three
simple questions:
1) When you say
the unabridged birth
certificate requirement is
not uncommon in other
countries, please name the
countries, as we have heard
of none.
2) When you say you have
consulted over these
regulations, please tell us
with which tourism bodies
and when.
3) Independent fact-checking
organisation, Africa Check,
has investigated claims
that over 30 000 children
are being trafficked into
prostitution in SA each year.
It followed up and found
the NGOs were making
wildly exaggerated claims to
capture public attention and
generate moral outrage. Ivo
Vegter in the Daily Maverick
reported that only a very
small number of cases could
be substantiated by evidence,
according to the analysis.
Of those, many appear to
have taken place entirely
within South Africa, without
involving any international air
travel. It is not a basis for
policy. So, Mr Minister, what
details do you have about the
international aspect of this
child trafficking scourge?
We may be wrong but we
think the minister cannot
answer any of these
questions satisfactorily.
As this issue went to
press, Asata confirmed in
a statement that it had
questioned the effectiveness
of the anti-child-trafficking
measures and asked for a
12-month grace period.
The letter requesting a
meeting with the minister,
which Asata sent last month,
together with four other
major industry bodies, has
been ignored – not even
acknowledged.
We are hopeful that this
madness will be stopped,
because the process and
foundation for this policy are
so flawed that the courts
would throw it out if it is
challenged. Dave Marsh