Cape Town-based travel company Drive South Africa has unveiled a Web app aimed at simplifying the new child visa regulations, which were introduced in the country last month.
The Child Visa Checklist App provides an easy-to-use three-step visa checklist tool for people travelling into or out of SA with children, and can be accessed online.
Users of the app can view and print a checklist of documents specific to their child-travel scenario, in three clicks - or taps in the case of mobile. The three-step process is powered by a 37-node decision tree running behind the scenes.
"The app is important, because it helps people prepare better for travelling to and from South Africa with children, by knowing exactly what documents they need for their particular child-travel scenario. The app eliminates frustration and fear," says Andre Van Kets, co-founder and marketing director of Drive South Africa.
SA introduced new child visa requirements last month, with the aim of preventing child trafficking and child-custody disputes between divorced and separated parents. Similar requirements are in place in other parts of the world, such as in the UK and the US.
However, criticism of the new regulations has been widespread and little online assistance is available for clarification, with David Frost, CEO of the Southern African Tourism Services Association (SATSA), characterising the documents available online as "shockingly confusing".
According to SATSA, the new regulations and the confusion invoked by them could cause a drop in the number of tourist arrivals into SA by as much as 28%. Similarly, the Tourism Business Council of SA reports a further 100 000 tourists may be lost this year, amounting to a loss of R4.1 billion in income and 9 300 jobs.
Tourism under pressure
As such, an online tool such as the Child Visa Checklist App provides a very much in-demand solution to the current situation.
"The problem is these regulations were launched with little consultation with the tourism industry, are rather confusing and might even make people think twice about travelling to South Africa," Van Kets says.
"This confusion, and the harm it might cause South African tourism, prompted the development of this simple-to-use Web app, which cuts through the legal jargon and helps South Africans and non-South Africans alike know exactly what they need when travelling to and from the country with their children.
"The app hopefully results in fewer people cancelling trips, or thinking twice about visiting South Africa. Not to mention fewer people being turned away at airports, because they have the wrong documents," Van Kets says.
According to Van Kets, the app will give parents confidence when travelling in and out of SA with children under 18 years old, and remove all uncertainty faced by parents trying to work out exactly which documents they need when travelling with their children.
"We are a technology-based travel company that's been around since 2002. So we have both the travel experience and technical skills to translate the potentially confusing new travel requirements into a simplified technology-based solution. One that's accessible to people everywhere," notes Van Kets.
The app was initially released to coincide with the implementation of the new regulations, as a way of helping the company's internal team of travel consultants better understand the new regulations. However, Van Kets says the app was quickly turned into an open source Web app, accessible from any browser, and has already been accessed by more than 11 000 users, from 123 countries.
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