President Cyril Ramaphosa said during the State Of The Nation address that the country intends to double its tourist arrival to 21 million by 2030. Some of the ways he hopes to achieve this are through the renewal of the country’s brand and a world-class visa regime.
“We will make good on our ambition to more than double international tourist arrivals to 21 million by 2030.
This will be achieved through the renewal of the country’s brand, introducing a world-class visa regime and a significant focus on Chinese and Indian markets and air arrivals from the rest of our continent,” he said.
President Ramaphosa said spatial interventions like special economic zones, reviving local industrial parks, business centres, digital hubs and township and village enterprises will bring economic development to local areas.
“We will also focus on small medium enterprises in our cities, townships and rural areas and create market places where they trade their products.”
He also briefly spoke about safety, stating: “ We are determined to ensure that tourists who come to our country are safe.”
During Africa’s Travel Indaba in Durban this year, Ramaphosa promised to introduce a world-class e-visa system and reduce the red tape that travellers face when visiting the country.
He said: “We must reduce the onerous and often unnecessary bureaucratic red tape that tourists who want to visit our countries face. This requires us to streamline our tourist visa regimes.”
Source:CLINTON MOODLEY- IOL.CO.ZA
