South Africa expects to attract more tourist this year after relaxing strict visa rules that hurt visitors numbers last year, the country’s tourism minister said on Tuesday.

Derek Hanekom told a media briefing that over one million tourists arrived in the country in January, representing a 15 percent rise compared to the same month last year.

“February brought an incredible 18 percent increase,” Reuters quoted Hanekom saying.

South Africa’s tourism sector is considered as one of the main drivers of employment and economic growth in Africa’s most industrialized economy.

Despite the withdrawal of the visa restrictions it is expected that it could take up to five years for the industry to fully recover, Tourism Business Council of South Africa CEO Mmatati Ramawela told BDlive.

Controversial and unpopular visa regulations introduced in October 2014 cut the number of tourists visiting South Africa by 6.8 percent in 2015 — the lowest since 2010 — and were heavily criticized by industry players within and outside the country.

The drop in tourists number in 2015 was also blamed on Ebola outbreak thousands of miles away in West Africa.

An estimated 15 percent tourists visiting South Africa, or about 1.4 million people, were impacted by the requirement for children to travel with a birth certificate, assuming a ratio of one adult to one child.

Targeting Chinese and Indians

The country has been targeting visitors from China and India, with arrivals from these Asian countries rising steadily since September last year.

In January alone arrivals from China were up 93 percent according to Tourism Update, while India contributed an 11 percent increase in arrivals.

Hanekom said on Wednesday that South Africa has set aside $7.9 million to promote domestic tourism, StarAfrica.com reported.