Southern Africa’s Travel News Weekly
October 28 2009 I No. 2081
INSIDE
TRAVEL NEWS WEEKLY
TNW3671SD
News
Feature
profile
manage your risk
Mary Wilkinson
Asata launches voice recording
30 years in travel!
Page 2
Tantalising Thailand
Page 10
Island-style adventures
Page 11
More visa nightmares W
HEN embassies start advising applicants that their visas could take up to 25 working days or longer, agents know they have a problem. Inconsistent rules around visa applications and bureaucratic red tape are jeopardising the level of efficient service agents can deliver, costing their clients thousands. Several embassies have come under fire from agents, but Angola and Nigeria have been highlighted as the most difficult to deal with. “When I hear the words Angolan visas mentioned, I shudder. I have had many clients cancel their meetings due to their visas not being ready on time. My last client’s visa took a month,” says Carol Hudson, consultant at Grindrod Travel, Durban. Angelina Mendes, consultant at Sandown Travel, says: “We have businessmen who need to go to Angola for emergencies. They supply these countries with expertise! If they don’t want us to help them, then why open an embassy in South Africa?” Anton Schavemaker from Visa Express said without the exact information needed, agents would battle to get their clients’ Angolan visas. “If they (the Angolan embassy) do not like the courier they will
give you a hard time.” “As a travel management company, our job is to make our clients’ travel as simple and drama-free as possible,” says Rachael Penaluna, sales executive at Sure Corporate Bleeker Travel. “We charge service fees and now more than ever, need to be efficient, professional, more knowledgeable, faster, always available and ‘make it happen’ against all odds.” Rachael submitted two visa applications to the Angolan embassy and received one back after two weeks. After five weeks, she still had not received the application for the second traveller, despite both clients working for the same company and going on the same trip to Angola. “We pulled the passport sans visa, having paid for it. My clients had to cancel their business trip – one less deal has been concluded between Angola and SA,” she said. There are similar complaints about the Nigerian embassy and more specifically the recently imposed repatriation fee of R6 000 for firsttime applicants (see TNW September 23). Applicants may, but are not guaranteed to, receive their deposits back if they provide the original deposit slip to the Nigerian embassy. “A first-time applicant’s visa is going to cost around
R8 200, including courier and handling fees. Where is the incentive to visit these countries? Africa is growing. We want to be where the business is but it is increasingly difficult when we are up against embassies that make it difficult for our clients to get there in the first place!” says Rachael. These visa difficulties come as SA president Jacob Zuma visited Angola to strengthen trade between Angola and South Africa. Both the Angolan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Business Unity of SA have called on their governments to address visa concerns but the issues have yet to be addressed. Repeated attempts made by TNW to contact the respective embassies were fruitless. An hour-long wait at the Nigerian consulate in Johannesburg resulted in an official confirming a media officer was based “somewhere in the building” but refusing to give TNW a direct contact. Home Affairs’ Ronnie Mamoepa, said in response to a query about the Nigerian repatriation fee, the decision was due to “reciprocity”. “They are doing to us what we do to them. We can’t tell them (Angola and Nigeria) how to run their embassies, just as they can’t tell us how to run ours,” he said. ■
Go big, or go home! It’s so big you could play a football match in it. That’s the word from Europcar on the launch of its flagship airport branch this month with a new queuing system to decrease customers’ time in the kiosk. The floor space has been increased to accommodate hundreds of trolleys. Says sales director Martin Lydall: “Europcar is doing everything it possibly can to make sure its customers are not inconvenienced by delays. Our new design, which will be rolled out across all major airport branches, aims to offer the industry’s quickest transaction time. Pictured here with their eye on the ball (from left) are Anne-Maria Haigh, key account manager; Lebo Mncube, database administrator; Gavin Slater, account manager and Sylvia Mohale, sales co-ordinator Photo: Tijana Huysamen
BA chips in for UK visa costs Jeanette Phillips BRITISH Airways says it will aid passengers with their UK visa costs when they book and pay by November 15 for travel until March 31 to Europe. World Traveller and World Traveller Plus passengers to specified European destinations will be offered a discount of R655 of the
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airfare to use towards a transit visa. Club World and firstclass passengers travelling to certain European destinations will receive a discount of R3 010 (two-year visa). Valid destinations include Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Brussels, Lisbon, Athens, Frankfurt, Rome, Nice, Geneva, Barcelona, Prague, Munich and Copenhagen. ■
1512/4S
Melody Brandon
086 101 66 22
www.budget.co.za