Cabinet has received a joint report from the Ministers of Home Affairs and Tourism on a possible relaxation of immigration regulations.

“Cabinet also received a joint report from the Ministers of Home Affairs and Tourism respectively, on a number of visa-related reforms that will make it easier for tourists, business people and academia to come to South Africa,” said a statement issued last night.

“The reforms include amendments to the regulations applying to foreign minors travelling to South Africa, which will be gazetted in October,” continued the statement.

Understandably, concerns have been raised that any change would only apply to foreign passport holders.

Tourism Update spoke with Satsa CEO David Frost who said a change in regulations would be a huge win for the industry. “We really need to thank Minister Hanekom and his team for their dogged work to remedy the situation with respect to unabridged birth certificates.  We look forward to seeing details of the visa related reforms.”

On Wednesday evening, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom took to Twitter, saying an announcement was imminent.

This will be changed soon. First announcement tomorrow https://t.co/QEwxnSuvWD

— Derek Hanekom (@Derek_Hanekom) September 19, 2018

On Friday, September 21, President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to present an economic stimulus package for the country, which is set to include reforms for the tourism industry to drive inbound traffic.