Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom has told Talk Radio 702's John Robbie that Cabinet has appointed a task team to look into the damage being caused to tourism by tough new entry requirements imposed by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba.

Hanekom said that he supported the effort to improve entry and exit security at the borders‚ but added "we've got to find a better way of doing it".

He said that there was clearly a worrying decline in the number of tourists coming into the country and he was especially concerned by a dramatic drop – by almost 40% – in the number of Chinese tourists entering the country.

He said the impact of the measures had not only been on tourism. "There's quite a serious impact on investment as well."

"We will be assessing the extent to which these measures have had unintended consequences‚" he said.