South Africa is set to scrape the unabridged birth certificate requirement for minors travelling with foreigners to the country.
AASA said it has been advised that President Cyril Ramaphosa recently instructed the Department of Home Affairs to completely rescind the controversial decision.
"The South African government has acknowledged the negative impact of visa regulations - including the unabridged birth certificate requirement - on tourism," Airline Association of Southern Africa (AASA) chief executive Chris Zweigenthal was quoted as saying by Fin24.
"We await confirmation of its revocation in hopeful anticipation."
He praised the Tourism Business Council of SA for the role it played in bringing the volte-face.
Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi told a local radio station that the requirement was put in place to stop child-trafficking.
“Then we said no, no let’s not trouble tourists with this,” he said.
“Let’s find our own way of fighting child-trafficking, rather than using this method, which interferes with tourism.”
The unabridged birth certificate requirement caused many problems for travellers to South Africa and the tourism industry since its introduction in 2015.
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