Niall Fitzgerald, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of UNILEVER once said “South Africa has extraordinary potential. I am convinced that the twenty-first century could well be the century for Africa, with South Africa leading the pack.”

If I ever had any doubts about the accuracy of Mr. Fitzgerald’s pronouncement, they were quickly erased when I read through the contents of a package circulated by the South African Department of Trade and Industry(DTI).

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The package came from a function recently hosted by South Africa’s DTI at Abuja – Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory . The South Africans have launched an aggressive drive to attract tourists and businesses into their country. And they are going about it, in a manner that attests to their commitment to actualise a vision as grand as that proposed by Fitzgerald.

If you plan on making the best of your visit to South Africa, this report – prepared using the materials in the DTI’s pack as references - should get you off to a good start.

Entering South Africa…
Johannesburg International Airport(JIA) – also known as the Gateway to Africa – has six terminals, which played host to over 11 million passengers in 2001 alone, making it the busiest airport in South Africa.

To elaborate, more than 500 direct flights are conducted each week by more than 50 different airlines, to 57destinations outside South Africa from JIA. This busy scenario is replicated domestically, as over 900 domestic flights are available per week to 20 destinations within South Africa.
Below are some tips you’ll find useful for your travel preparations, as well as when you arrive in the country…

1. Getting Information: You can get airport and tourism information at JIA’s Terminal 2 information counter.

2. Facilities consistent with those found in most other world-class airports are also readily available. A few are highlighted below..

a. Banking and Bureau de Change facilities will be found in terminals 1, 2 and 6. There, you will be able to exchange Traveler’s cheques and foreign currency notes in all major currencies. Outside the airport(i.e. generally in SA), banks open Mondays to Fridays from 0900 to 1530 hours and on Saturdays 0900 to 1100 hours. Further, ATMs are widely available in most towns.

b. VAT Refund: Certainly worth keeping in mind is the 14% value added tax refund, which you can claim on most purchases you make - if the total value of your purchases exceeds R250-00. VAT offices will be found at the airports, border posts and harbors. Keep in mind however, that to get the refund, you must produce the following: an original tax invoice, a completed VAT 255 form as well as the purchased goods.

c. JIA also has a duty free shopping facility reputably second in size only to its equivalent in London’s Heathrow Airport. On sale are rare and unique African handicrafts, curios etc – which sometimes have unusual items like a “Zulu love letter” attached to them!

d. Medicals: Visitors are advised to obtain travel insurance to cover any medical expenses they might incur - as South Africa has no national health scheme. For those who might choose to visit the wine producing Western Cape region (http://www.capetourism.org), it should be reassuring to learn that the region is actually malaria-free, and has no inoculation requirements!

e. At the airport, other general facilities exist such as: A 24 hour food hall, automatic teller machines, travel agents, restaurants/bars, a Chapel, Muslim prayer room, medical services/Pharmacies, a post office etc, public phones in all terminals as well as public and private transport facilities.

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*IMPORTANT! Please note: this report was written in December 2003. It does not cover latest developments! The report also does not claim to cover the topic(i.e.Travel and Tourism destinations in South Africa) in its entirety.

You can contact the author using this web form - even if only to send in your opinions about your perception of the usefulness of the contents. This report may be continued in future, so I would appreciate your suggestions about what I should include in it. The updated version will be made available on this site - FREE.

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