City welcomes electronic visas announcement

STATEMENT BY THE CITY’S MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND ASSET MANAGEMENT, ALDERMAN JAMES VOS.

The City of Cape Town welcomes the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that government will implement an electronic visa system and remove the unabridged birth certificate requirement for tourists visiting South Africa.

The City’s view on this issue has been in favour of e-Visas for visitors to South Africa for these simple facts: the introduction of electronic visas will not only provide a real means for protecting jobs in tourism but present significant advantages by cutting turnaround times for the issuing of travel documentation, and are in fact more secure than existing permits.

We need to streamline tourist facilitation to our country and especially our cities to make it easier for travellers to select South Africa as a destination of choice when it comes to travel and trade. Ultimately there is a need to cut the red tape and roll out the red carpet.

Until recently, the government’s visa regulations continued to make it difficult for tourists to select South Africa as a destination due its cumbersome visa application processes.

Electronic visas have also proven to be highly effective in comparable countries such as Turkey, which is widely regarded to have the best international practice when it comes to visa applications.

The use of technology in tourism is well established. For example, where Electronic-Visas have been implemented, they have proven to be extremely effective, so it makes perfect sense to implement it here, given the recent visa debacle in South Africa.

I am proud to say that Cape Town is one of South Africa’s leading tourism destinations. This is as a result of our focused approach to growing tourism through facilitating a flow of private sector investment in the hospitality sector and implementing strategies to attract more flight connectivity with countries around the world. The tourism industry supports more than 300 000 jobs and contributes about R40 billion to the regional economy.

If we implement e-Visas and scrap the unabridged birth certificate, we will promote tourism, grow tourism spend and develop the economy to create more employment.

We are pleased with this announcement because it is positively a victory for the tourism sector and we were delighted to have played our role in making this happen. In my capacity as the City’s Mayoral Committee Member mainly responsible for economic growth that includes the tourism portfolio, I have submitted numerous motivations for measures to facilitate easier access, listing the myriad of benefits, whilst also highlighting the industry’s support for their introduction.

It will mean more tourists and more jobs for South Africans.