French warn of 40% drop in travel unless child travel regulations are rethought

The French travel agents say they agree that laws should combat child trafficking, but suggest the new regulations will harm South Africa's inbound tourism. Said Fabrice Dabouineau, Manager of Voyageurs en Afrique and GM of Satyagraha House Project (Joburg): "South Africa is a family destination, which is currently very popular in France and these new dispositions make procedures for French citizens very complicated, especially as all the required documents need to be translated by a certified translator.

"Several of the members of our syndicate, who programme the destination, inform us of a possible drop by 40% in sales to South Africa." The French trade's suggestions include not having to provide sworn translations of documents; the acceptability of an extract of the French birth certificate, which is available in all languages; and that a standard attestation (affidavit) is drawn up for all travellers. The trade also requests that travellers booking with a recognised tour operator be exonerated from the requirements.

Voyageurs du Monde, is very involved in South Africa, through Satyagraha House, the guest house and living museum dedicated to South African history around Gandhi (Joburg). They therefore desperately want to inform the government about the impact of these laws and possible decrease in tourism to SA. They firmly believe there are better solutions, which they have proposed in formal communication to various SA government departments, but have received no response or acknowledgement of receipt.