EVEN as South Africa mounts its biggest marketing efforts in the Philippines to counter fallout from Ebola, its new regulation requiring visa applicants to apply in person in their home country is a major deterrent to travel.
TTG Asia e-Daily understands that the new visa rule is meant to prevent illegal immigration to South Africa and rules out visa application by post as in the past.
Stephen Motloung, third secretary, admin and consular, South African Embassy in the Philippines, said travel consultants cannot apply for visas for group tours. Instead, each member of the tour group has to apply personally at the embassy in Manila.
The number of Filipino visitors, as with travel in general, to South Africa dropped in 2014 due to fears over Ebola, he said. In 2013, the country welcomed 17,000 Filipino arrivals and it is keen for more.
In tandem with the South African Embassy and South African Airways (SAA), a delegation of tourism stakeholders from Northern Cape province visited Manila to work the travel trade as well as consumers at the Philippine Travel Agencies Association’s Travel Tour Expo 2015.
Other efforts to court Filipino tourists include providing information on the real status of Ebola, fam trips for travel consultants and special tour packages, which Simon Martinez, sales assistant manager at SAA, said constitute the destination’s biggest marketing efforts in the Philippines so far.
Martinez expects Philippine outbound to South Africa to grow at a double-digit rate this year.
