For many corners of the world, traveling to South Africa on vacation comes with unexpected paperwork and visa fees for visitors. But in an effort to make travel more attractive and boost tourism, South Africa announced visa waivers for visitors from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and New Zealand. South Africa’s official tourism figures showed sluggish tourism figures from Europe and the Middle East, spurring fears the economy faces future struggles. The official GDP data also showed a 3.2 percent drop, the largest in 10 years. The government hopes waived visas will help grow the tourism economy and create more jobs.
The South African government set an ambitious goal to create more than 2 million tourism jobs by 2028 and are looking to extend the visa waiver to additional countries. The waiver program went into effect in August 2019 and extends past vacations and to business meetings and conferences. Currently, South Africa is also looking into waiving visas for tourists coming from Cuba, Principe, Sao Tome and Ghana. As a result, Qatar already reciprocated the move and waived its own visa requirements for South Africa. The move does not impact American tourists who can already visit the Republic of South Africa for up to 90 days for either leisure or business purposes.
Learn more about the Republic of South Africa tourism here.
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