The tourism industry is in an uproar over a recent notice issued by the department of home affairs imploring foreign tourists to leave SA by the end of February if their visa renewal outcomes are not received by the 23rd of the month.

The notice requests that tourists who have depleted their 90-day free stay, a significant number of them from Europe and the US, and who wouldn’t have received extensions by the said date, leave the country so that they do not overstay.

In response, tourism bodies have criticised the government, arguing that the move will cause “reputational risk” to SA’s tourism industry. The Southern African Tourism Services Association (Satsa) argues that the move will have a negative impact on the economy as it will mostly affect tourists from developed countries who are bringing in foreign currency to spend in SA.

These tourists, according to the association, are “sun chasers” in SA to enjoy the great summer weather as an escape from the cold northern hemisphere. The Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa) goes further to argue these Western tourists are “unjustly impacted”.

The economic debates around this issue centre on the fact that tourists bring in much-needed foreign currency, create jobs locally and boost the economy. And while this is understandable given our country’s dire financial circumstances, the suggestion that the law must be disregarded for money is a dangerous proposition.

There are two things that bother me about this issue. First, the “sun chasers”, who enjoy visa-free travel to SA (for 90 days) are from countries incredibly difficult for South Africans to access.

With the exception of Ireland, Russia, Kosovo and Georgia, South Africans require a visa to visit Europe and the entire North America. Any SA passport holder who has travelled to these regions will tell you that not only is the visa process tedious, it is also costly.

When you consider the visa processing fees, the vaccination certificates and health insurance required, plus the itinerary that must be in place during the application process, you need thousands of rands to just apply for a visa to the US or Schengen and EEA countries.

Second, Western countries are extremely invested in their national security. They have laws in place that they expect tourists to abide by. Failure to adhere to these laws has severe consequences, including prosecution, deportation and banning.

For these reasons, it's concerning that the tourism industry in SA sees nothing wrong with having tourists from these same countries disregard the laws in our country – some thing they wouldn’t tolerate in their own countries.

I live in Germany and I know for certain that the German government would never tolerate the things the tourism industry wants to see being done in SA. Furthermore, the same tourism industry doesn’t seem to be as invested in lobbying foreign governments to ease their visa regulations so that we too can enjoy visa-free travel or, at the very least, less complicated processes when we want to travel.

It begs the question: is the tourism industry more invested in making money than it is in the national interest of SA? The fact that tourism bodies are speaking mainly of “sun chasers” f from western countries also demonstrates that their primary interest is not in all tourists but in those from the West.

This is despite empirical evidence that the vast majority of tourists into SA are from the African continent – mainly Zimbabwe. The number of Kenyan tourists has also doubled in recent years. This focus on Western tourists communicates the message that they are of greater value and are the preference and priority. This racist undertone is deeply unfortunate. We may be a developing country in need of foreign currency, but we must never compromise our laws at the altar of convenience.