List of Countries Allowed to Travel to SA to be Updated Soon, Says Ramaphosa

With the potentially lucrative summer travel season about to begin, the government will soon update the list of nationalities allowed into South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa said today. The list of countries banned from entering South Africa announced on 1 October was extensive, including the UK and USA.

“Although international tourist travel is likely only to recover in the medium term, our efforts are now focused on implementing an efficient e-visa system and extending visa waivers to new tourism markets,” he said in a speech today focusing on economic recovery for the country.

When the opening of international travel was announced on 1 October, a long list of countries whose residents were not allowed into South Africa was published. See the list here.

“To support tourism over this peak tourism season, we will shortly be publishing an expanded list of countries from where resumption of international travel will be permitted, which will be supported by targeted marketing in partnership with the private sector,” Ramaphosa said.

“We urge South African to continue to explore their country in support of the tourism recovery as one of the hard hit sectors by the Covid-19 pandemic.”