•    Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille and Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber are collaborating to reform the country's visa system and boost tourist numbers.
•    De Lille praised Schreiber for his swift work to fix the visa regime and other simmering problems in the Department of Home Affairs.
•    In the last festive season, South Africa had more than nine million visitors.

Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille has praised her home affairs counterpart, Leon Schreiber, for progress made on the country's visa regime.

In a statement, De Lille, who is also leader of the GOOD Party, thanked Schreiber, whose department has a direct impact on tourism numbers.

"We have made great strides in the past year and a key success has been our work with Operation Vulindlela in the Presidency, the State Security Agency and the Department of Home Affairs on the visa regime, particularly with the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme which will significantly ease the visa process for travellers and tour operators from China and India as well as the Electronic Travel Authorisation and the Digital Nomad Visas," De Lille said.
De Lille said the tourism sector is a vital engine for economic growth.

She said there has been a steady rebound over the past two years, with close to nine million arrivals to South Africa in 2024. This is a 5.1% increase compared to 2023.
"We have been working hard with the tourism sector in South Africa, China and India to resolve the visa obstacles, and the recent work by the Department of Home Affairs is to be commended.

"The Department of Tourism will use the visa enablers - the Electronic Travel Authorisation, the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, and the Digital Nomad Visas to grow tourism in South Africa, targeting key source markets - India and China," De Lille said.

"These visa regime enhancements will lead to increased arrivals to South Africa, which will in turn assist government to achieve the goals of the GNU to drive inclusive economic growth and create jobs. As the tourism sector, we are appreciative of the efforts and commitment by Minister of Home Affairs Dr Leon Schreiber and his department for the impressive gains made on the visa regime front," she added.

The Department of Home Affairs will start implementation of phase one of the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme that will significantly improve the visa process for travellers and tour operators from India and China.
"These are two massive key source markets for South Africa that can contribute to our goal to increase arrivals exponentially. A seamless visa regime is a key to growing arrivals and we have been working well with Home Affairs in this regard and will continue to work with them to make further improvements," De Lille said.

Earlier this week, Schreiber and De Lille addressed the first group of 65 successful tour operators from South Africa, China and India.
These tour operators will be able to start making visa applications for individuals and groups as soon as this week on a fully digital system in a more seamless process.

"Over the past few months, we have directly engaged the tourism sector in South Africa, China and India on the visa regime and the sector in all three countries have enthusiastically welcomed these improvements.
"We are truly excited about these visa regime improvements and we cannot wait to reap the rewards of this progress in the coming months with increased arrivals from China and India especially," said De Lille