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Over a million visitors stream into SA

5 July 2010

Over a million visitors came through South Africa's borders from 1 June to 1 July, says the Department of Home Affairs.

According to the country's Movement Control System, which is deployed in 34 priority ports of entry, the number of visitors who descended on the country had reached 1 020 321, the department said.

This is in comparison to the 819 495 reached in the same period last year, representing an increase of 25%.

"This figure is expected to rise further as the Fifa World Cup™ enters the semi-finals and the final phases of the tournament," the department said.

Of the nationalities coming into the country, visitors from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Malawi and Zambia were among the top visitors.

This was followed by tourists from the UK, USA, Germany, Australia, Brazil and Mexico.

Monitoring movement

The control system, which was launched by Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, is linked to the South African Revenue Services, as well as law enforcement agencies. It has enabled South Africa to monitor movements of persons entering the country, especially in the time leading up to the World Cup.

A total of 43 "undesirables" were prohibited from boarding airlines abroad coming to South Africa through the use of the Advanced Passenger Processing System.

Over 180 people, through the Home Affairs Airline Liaison Officers in various international airports, were denied entry into South Africa. This was due to of fraudulent documents and failure to meet immigration requirements.

Source: BuaNews