International visitors and foreign currency are what the country needs to grow the tourism industry and provide jobs.
John Maytham interviews Rosemary Anderson, FEDHASA National Chairperson.
Citizens of China are now able to leave the country more freely as its travel ban has been lifted after almost three years.
Coronavirus health warnings are seen in the arrivals hall at London Heathrow Airport in west London, on 15 January 2021. Picture: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP
RELATED: China opens borders, scraps strict Covid-19 policies despite HUGE surge in cases
This means that the tourism industry will flourish as more people will be doing more exploring.
Anderson weighs in:
- The number of inbound Chinese tourists to South Africa was not huge prior to the pandemic
It is not really a big number of tourists that actually follow us; that’s actually the problem.
Rosemary Anderson, FEDHASA National Chairperson
- South African authorities would first need to assess risks posed by the surge of Covid cases in China and put the necessary precautions in place prior to them entering the country.
As long as we could actually stay safe, then it would be a huge market that could possibly actually benefit South Africa.
Rosemary Anderson, FEDHASA National Chairperson
- There are different niches within the Chinese market such as the high-end market that typically frequents the United States but has now shown interest in visiting South Africa for the wildlife.
International tourism is basically foreign currency coming into our country and that’s what we really, really need in order to be able to grow the industry and jobs.
Rosemary Anderson, FEDHASA National Chairperson
- In order for Chinese citizens to enter South Africa, they would first need to physically present themselves in front of the Embassy or Visa Tourist Centre, which makes the process of entering the country challenging.
We do not make it easy for the Chinese to visit South Africa, and that’s something we really need to look at. We need to make it easy for markets that really want to visit South Africa…
Rosemary Anderson, FEDHASA National Chairperson
Scroll up to listen to the full interview.
This article first appeared on CapeTalk : China lifts travel ban – tourism needs the boost, should we let them in?
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