As Nigerians display a marked preference for foreign holiday destinations at the expense of domestic ones, successful visa applicants in the country have spent over N2 billion on the procurement of the South African visas in three years.
The sum accrued from the successful issuance of visas to 133,114 applicants between January 2013 and June 2015.
The N21,000 fee per visa applicant, comprises N8,600 visa fees which go directly to the South Africa embassy and N12,000 service charges that go to VSF, the handling company.
Frequent (Nigerian) travellers to that destinationcomplain that the three months duration of the South Africa visa makes the fee expensive and the process cumbersome and makes them have to apply and pay repeatedly.
Some South Africans working in Nigeria likewise complain of the cumbersome process of procuring the Nigerian visa, which is also expensive.
However, both countries are making efforts at resolving visa issues and other challenegs to seamless interconectivity.
Explaining the breakdown of the visas issued to Nigerians in the period in his opening remarks at the South Africa Tourism/West Africa Trade workshop held recently in Lagos, Mokgethi Monaisa, South African Consul General in Nigeria, noted that 59,657 visas were issued in 2013 and 48,289in 2014, while 25,168 were issued in the first half of 2015.
However, the embassy is partnering with other relevant South African agencies in Nigeria, especially South African Tourism, Nigeria Association of Tour Operators (NATOP), National Association of Travel Agents of Nigeria (NANTA) to woo more Nigerian visitors to their country, in line with their vision of attracting 12 million international tourists by 2018.
