Government is planning to ease visa rules for visitors from India and China and will do this in a matter of days to get more foreign tourists.
In an effort to lure visitors from India and China, government is easing some of the red tape that currently exists.
The new visa rules for China and India, come as Russia hosts the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan.
Currently, if you belong to a BRICS nation you are required to get authorisation from SA in order to visit and South Africans visiting these nations also need authorisation to travel there.
This will soon change as Leon Schreiber, the Home Affairs minister will implement a new Trusted Tour Operators system starting next year in January.
"Tourism is one of South Africa’s natural advantages, it’s one of the things we should be excelling at," Schreiber told Bloomberg TV.
"Yet we have seen in terms of the statistics that South Africa lags behind in terms of major source markets, China and India specifically," he added.
Tour operators will be responsible for the tour groups that bring in people from India and China. These operators will be vetted extensively by government.
The tour operators, which will be vetted by the African nation’s authorities, will be responsible for the tour groups from the two countries.
Schreiber said that government will implement an electronic travel authorisation system in the future and therefore the Trusted Tour Operators' programme is temporary.
Work from SA visas
In early October, the minister gazetted remote Work Visas, which will enable individuals who are employed abroad to work and live in South Africa.
Home Affairs also said that government will implement a Points-Based System for skilled work visas and this is expected to make it easier for South African companies to attract foreigners with scarce skills.
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