Would a single regional visa encourage tourist arrivals in southern Africa?

Abstract

Although many studies have been done of factors impeding Africa's development as a tourism destination, few have focused on southern Africa, and to date none have questioned whether the current visa requirements affect the region's tourism industry. This paper investigates the potential impact of the so-called Univisa, a single visa for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region proposed by SADC and the Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa. It examines the possible effect of visa requirements on a destination's accessibility and visitor numbers. Two surveys revealed that inbound and outbound tour operators were relatively positive about the benefits the proposed Univisa would bring, but were concerned about other factors hindering tourism development in the region. The study revealed the complexities of a regional visa and found that even though a regional visa might alleviate some problems, it cannot be seen as an answer to the slow development of tourism in this region.

Keywords:

• tour operator
• visa
• Univisa
• tourism development
• Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Notes

¹Note that there is a difference between the members of RETOSA and the members of SADC listed in Section 2.2 above. Seychelles is not a member of RETOSA.

²We were unfortunately unable to ask this respondent what he meant by ‘immigration’. We assume he might have meant that foreigners were taking jobs in the tourism industry and thus depriving the local people, or he might have been referring to illegal immigrants, often perceived to be involved in crime and thus an obstacle to tourism development, or his response might be linked to xenophobia, which inhibits tourism development.

³The authors are indebted to an anonymous reviewer for this interesting suggestion.

⁴We are also indebted to the anonymous reviewer for this suggestion.