SA Migration International

Nov 02 2015 – Fin 24
Cape Town – Cape Town’s tourism industry should not rest on its laurels but keep up the good work and act on strategies aimed at strengthening year-round tourism, Executive Mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille said at Cape Town Tourism’s annual general meeting.
Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy declared that Cape Town is truly becoming a 365 destination at the organisation’s AGM on Thursday, which focused on the holistic approach to tourism in the city taken over the past year.
“Cape Town Tourism is closely monitoring visitor trends, and is cautiously optimistic about the upcoming holiday season, especially since domestic tourism remains the focus during December and January. Placing the emphasis on campaigns such as ‘Hello Weekend’, the ‘Love Your Neighbourhood’ video series which showcases select city suburbs and a drive to encourage visitors to ‘travel like a local’ will add impetus to tourism-related businesses”, Duminy said.
Duminy indicated that the latest statistics indicate positive growth year-on-year in air travel to Cape Town and that Cape Town Tourism’s strategies in combatting seasonality had paid off.
Specifically, Duminy highlighted a successful “Hello Weekend” campaign that resulted in 21% increase in domestic bookings and the impact that this had in combatting seasonality in tourism – the campaign specifically designed to attract visitors in off-peak season.
He reminded everyone that achievements were made despite the current tourism industry climate which has taken a significant knock from the birth certificate requirements, biometric visas and the tail-end of the Ebola crisis, and thanked David Frost of the South African Tourism Services Association (SATSA) for his commitment to the industry in light of Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom’s announcement that some of the visa and birth certificate regulations will be relaxed.
Key statistics and highlights he mentioned included that the total airport arrival figures are up 3.4% year-on-year – domestic arrivals by 2.9%, regional arrivals by 6.4% and international arrivals by 6.1%. Of the big attractions, Kirstenbosch Garden showed a favourable 29% increase in visitors.
The increased capacity at Cape Town International has had a positive effect on regional and international arrivals and presents an opportunity going forward.
Councillor Garreth Bloor, Mayoral Committee Member, Tourism, Events and Economic Development added that a long-term strategy aimed at counteracting seasonality is already in place and that this is encouraging tourists to stay longer, spend more and visit more places. He mentioned the specific targeting of niche tourist markets as one means of growing tourism in the city.

Nov 16 2015 – Tourism Update
South Africa experienced a decrease in the number of arrivals in August, compared to last year, according to Statistics South Africa’s monthly tourism and migration figures.
According to the statistics, released on Monday afternoon, foreign arrivals decreased by 6.4% in August, compared to August last year. Departures of foreign travellers decreased by 4.2%.
On a month-to-month basis, foreign arrivals decreased by 2.9% in August, compared to July this year. On the other hand, departures and transits increased by 4.2% and 19.2%, respectively.
In total, data collected by Department of Home Affairs immigration officials showed that South Africa had just under 3.8 million travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) in August.
The state of the travel and tourism industry came under the spotlight following the introduction of the controversial visa regulations.
The new rules required parents and guardians travelling with children under 18 to provide unabridged birth certificates, and applications for visas to be made in person so that biometric information can be recorded.
After much criticism, the government last month backed down and eased some of the visa requirements, which were introduced to curb child trafficking.
In one of the key concessions, the government announced that, within three months the Department of Home Affairs will accept visa applications by post for visitors and medical travellers from those countries where no South African missions exist.
Thereafter the biometrics and photos of these travellers will be captured at ports of entry.

Nov 16 2015 – Fin24
Johannesburg – South Africa has a brand perception problem which it needs to tackle honestly and openly, Southern Africa Tourism Services (SATSA) CEO David Frost said on Monday.
Frost was commenting on Statistics South Africa’s latest figures on tourism and migration which showed a decline in the number of tourists from some of South Africa’s key tourism markets.
The statistics showed a decline in the number of tourists from the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Australia, China, India and Spain. These countries account for 75.4% of South Africa’s overseas tourists.
He said South Africa had been on the receiving end of a plethora of negative reports about issues such as Nkandla, Marikana and the visa regulations.
“Our brand has suffered and needs a positive and tactical marketing campaign,” Frost said. He said this needed collaborated efforts of the private and public sectors.
“If we have a brand perception problem, let us address that,” Frost said.
He said it was also important for the country to sort out the national carrier South African Airways (SAA). He said it would be difficult for the country to improve its image while the national carrier continued to experience difficulties.

16 Nov 2015 – Tourism Update

Arrivals from two of SA’s biggest source markets are down, while overseas arrivals are down 9% year to date.
During August, overseas tourist arrivals to South Africa dropped 11% year on year, while year to date, overseas arrivals are down 9%, according to the latest tourist arrival stats released by Statistics South Africa this week.
Arrivals from two of SA’s biggest source markets are also down. Arrivals from Germany are down 10% year to date and arrivals from the US are down 7% year to date, while the UK has shown negligible growth for the year. During July, the UK showed a 17% increase in arrivals year on year, but arrivals declined 3% during August.
Arrivals from Europe are down 5% year to date.
Arrivals from China and India continued to decline, dropping 3% and 13%% respectively for August year on year. Arrivals from China are down 26% year to date and arrivals from India are down 13%.
David Frost, CEO of SATSA, says the decline can be attributed to the succession of negative publicity the country has received in its key source markets, including reports on load shedding and xenophobia. “We’ve just become an uncool place to go to,” he says, adding that the country’s image has taken a knock. “The image that we have out there because of all this reporting is not a positive one.”
According to Frost, the solution is a powerful, tactical six-month campaign in SA’s key source markets. He says the country need to invest money in a campaign to arrest the tourism decline the country is currently experiencing.
Frost emphasises that the efforts of the private sector and the government need to be synergised, something, he says, that has never happened before. “We should have a think tank that looks at North America, and a think tank that looks at Europe and a think tank that looks at Asia where the top operators and private sector players sit down with SA Tourism to come up with a joint strategy that we all buy into,” he says.
Frost adds that the national carrier, SAA, should also be involved in this discussion. “We are all spending money. We are all doing things in those countries, but we are not synergising.”

2015-11-15 – News24
Lagos – Nigeria finally has a government after a wait of more than five months but the new ministers have their work cut out to reverse a damaging slump in Africa’s leading economy.
Falling global oil prices have shrunk government revenues and slowed growth to a near standstill, while the naira currency is weak, inflation high and unemployment causing widespread concern.
At the same time, the military is working to end a bloody insurgency by the radical Islamist Boko Haram group that has devastated the people and economy of the remote northeast.
“Nigeria has never been this bad,” said political commentator Olapade Agoro, who is also an opposition politician and former presidential candidate.
All eyes are now on new Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and her team to come up with policies to tackle the rot.
But Bismarck Rewane, of the Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives, said time was of the essence, with investors keen for clarity about the direction the government will take.
“The thing to do is to hit the ground running because there is no time for rhetoric,” he told AFP.
“The economy is in dire straits. The GDP is low at 2.4%, while inflation is nearing 10% with weak purchasing power and a falling naira.”
Unemployment is currently at 8.2%, while the oil shock has left Nigeria – Africa’s number one crude producer – short of cash to pay for government projects and even civil servants’ salaries.
“You’ve got to raise money to deal with fiscal deficits,” said Rewane.
Cash required
Adeosun, a former investment banker, has been credited with turning round the finances of the cash-strapped southwestern state of Ogun, yet is untested at national level.
Analysts suggest she will work closely with other key ministers such as Udo Udoma, in charge of budget and national planning, and Okechukwu Enelamah at industry, trade and investment.
The appointment of other technocrats has also been welcomed, in particular former ExxonMobil executive Ibe Kachikwu as junior oil minister to overhaul the graft-ridden sector.
Babatunde Fashola was put in charge of a “super-ministry” for power, works and housing after being seen to have performed well in those areas in Lagos State, which drives Nigeria’s economy.
Rotimi Amaechi, the former governor of oil-producing Rivers state, was named transport minister.
Both are seen as powerful members of the new cabinet.
But they will need ready cash to follow through and are under pressure to show results quickly, with almost half of President Muhammadu Buhari’s first year in office already over.
Sola Oni, of Lagos-based stockbrokers Sofunix Investment and Communications, said the government should look to the stock market for financing.
“The federal government should for once exploit the capital market to fund the infrastructural deficiency which has become the bane of our economic growth and development,” he said.
Dependency on oil, which supplies 70% of government revenue, should be cut, and a renewed emphasis put on addressing the country’s crippling power deficit, he added.
Drive growth
The five-month absence of government ministers created uncertainty among investors in what has been a fast-growing emerging market, with nearly 7.0 percent annual average growth from 2005-13.
Attention now is on the announcement of next year’s budget, which has to be submitted to parliament by December.
Reports this week suggested Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was proposing a budget of about eight trillion naira ($40bn) for 2016 – double that for this year.
Muda Yusuf, director-general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, said with a ministerial team now in place, “there should be coherent, consistent and positive signals to investors” to drive growth.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, which filled the void in fiscal policy in the absence of a cabinet, in particular should review its foreign exchange restrictions policy, he added.
Seeking to conserve dollar reserves, the bank in June ruled that importers could no longer get hard currency from the interbank market to import dozens of items, from toothpicks to private jets.
In the past year, reserves have fallen by nearly a quarter as it tried to prevent the naira from falling in tandem with plummeting crude prices.
The central bank has twice devalued the currency, taking it from 155 naira to the dollar a year ago to 199 currently.
Adeosun, viewed as a reformist, and her fellow ministers should meet with the private sector to plot a way forward and also address rising national debts, he added.
“Debt service burden is becoming increasingly unbearable, especially domestic debt,” he said.

SABC Joburg News – 14 Nov. 15

The Department of Home Affairs says it will act swiftly to re-open the PE Refugee Reception Office. The department has until early February next year to give effect to a Supreme Court of Appeal judgment. The clock started ticking after the Constitutional Court refused to hear the Department’s appeal. The closure of inland RRO’s meant that many refugees and assylum seekers, who were unable to travel back to the border, could not access necessary services. The Department’s Spokesperson, Mayihlome Tshwete……

November 12 2015 – Jabulile S. Ngwenya – IOL News
Pretoria – International students studying in South Africa can breath a sigh of relief after Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba announced on Thursday that his department would waive visa regulations for those whose visas have expired.
The waiver is applicable to international students whose visas expired at the end of October and were due to expire at the end of November.
Gigaba’s announcement came after consultations he had with the International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA), which was liaising with universities to identity students affected by the regulations.
The waiver came as a solution to assist students, who would have been unable to write their examinations, or have been “declared undesirable when leaving the country on expired visas” said Home Affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete.
The waiver, said Tshwete, means that these students would be allowed to stay in the country until December 31.
He added: “Any student who intends to return to South Africa in 2016 for study purposes will have to follow the usual process of either applying for a renewal of their visa or apply for a study visa in their country of origin, whichever is applicable.”
Tswete said once the IEASA has provided the department with a list of bonafide students who were applicable for the waiver, they would proceed with granting these students the waiver.