Home Affairs Reports Rise in Number of Travellers Over Festive Season

South Africa experienced a rise in the number of travellers in and out of the Republic during the festive season and turned back “only 0.6%” of foreign minors, according to a statement by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba at a media briefing in Johannesburg today.

The minister convened the meeting to clarify the traveller figures between 1 December 2015 and 7 January 2016 after several local and international media reports alleged that figures were down following complications caused by stringent new immigration laws.

David Frost, Chief Executive of SA Tourism Services Association (SATSA), was quoted in several papers during December as saying: “With the Rand so favourable, we should have been growing at double digits, but out of the UK we have been basically flat.”

According to Frost, between 10 and 20 people were being denied access to board their long-haul flights from Heathrow to South Africa because of not having the correct paperwork.

According to today’s DHA statement “only 0.6% of foreign minors were turned back due to lack of compliance with requirements for travelling minors” and there was an increase of 6.1 percent travellers from Europe.

Minister Gigaba said “I trust that in sharing this information we will do much to clarify some recent reports related to South Africa’s amended visa rules and traveller volumes.”

He said that as “a department, and a hospitable country”, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) had done its best to ensure smooth movement for local and international travellers by using more staff, equipment and working longer hours during the peak period.

According to the DHA, these are the stats for 1 December 2015 – 7 January 2016:

• A total number of 5,390,856 travellers went through our borders (higher than the 4.7 million reported earlier for 1 Dec ’15 – 3 Jan ’16), of which:
  • 1,487,148 were citizens.
  • 3,903,708 were foreign nationals.
• A total number of 2,709,874 arrivals, of which:
  • 2,003,509 arrivals were foreigners.
  • 706, 365 arrivals were citizens.
• A total number of 2,680,982 departures, of which:
  • 1,900,199 departures were foreigners.
  • 780,783 departures were citizens.

The minister said “it is quite clear that the 2016 peak period had notable increases in traveller movement compared to 2014 and 2015”. See below…

Traveller Figures for Festive Season Compared to Previous Years

Total Travellers – compared with 2014/15 (in which figures dropped from the previous year), there was an increase of 5,3%:

• 2015/16: 5,390,856
• 2014/15: 5,116,783
• 2013/14: 5,141,021

Total Arrivals

• 7.6% increase in arrivals of foreigners
• 0.3% increase for citizens.

Regions

The DHA reported an increase in the past year in arrivals from each region except for South America which experienced a decrease of 1 percent. Increases were:

• 4.9% more travellers from other parts of Africa
• 6.1% from Europe
• 7.8% from North America
• 15% from Asia
• 2.5% from Australasia
• 21% from the Middle East.

Top 9 Nationalities Arriving in SA:

Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, United Kingdom, Germany, USA and Namibia.

Top 10 Ports in SA:

Oliver Tambo International Airport, Beit Bridge, Lebombo, Maseru Bridge, Ficksburg, Oshoek, Cape Town International Airport, Kopfontein, Ramatlabama and Groblers Bridge.

Foreign Minors

With regard to travelling minors, the minister said 284,191 foreign minors travelled to South Africa. He said this represented 99.4% of all foreign minors who attempted to visit SA and that “only” 0.6% of foreign minors were turned back due to lack of compliance with requirements for travelling minors.

The minister said: “With regard to the progress of Cabinet concessions on immigration regulations, indeed we are on course. We should be ready soon to report on the strong advisory in respect of children from visa-exempt countries.”

Once implemented, foreign minors will no longer have to carry an unabridged birth certificate to travel in and out of SA.

Biometric Programme

The minister reported that the eMCS Biometric pilot programme was continued at selected passenger processing counters at the 4 pilot airports with:

• 2 counters at Lanseria,
• 5 counters at King Shaka International Airport,
• 8 Counters at Cape Town International Airport, and
• 5 counters in the Transit area at OR Tambo International Airport.

“Travellers experienced a smooth process with only limited glitches as would be expected of any new endeavour,” he said.

“For the first registration, the Department will capture all 10 fingers but subsequent movements will require the capturing of only one finger for verification purposes.

“A turnaround time of less than 3 minutes is currently achieved for first registration of travellers and approximately 1 minute for travellers that require verification on subsequent movements.”

As announced in December, transit visas are no longer required at these four airports, which has also added to a smoother movement of travellers.

Gigaba said: “If we do not keep SA safe, and fail to provide effective protections for children, we are going to push travellers away. Similarly, if we don’t continue to improve on the traveller process modalities it will push travellers away.

“We should however desist from talking down our country, in particular, our tourism sector. The attraction of South Africa goes beyond reckless convenience. We have an opportunity to strike a more collaborative tone as government and the tourism sector, one that appreciates the perspective of the other.

“We can work together, keep our country safe and attract travellers beyond mere convenience of travel.”