Unidentified gunmen seized two South African citizens Monday near a hotel in the southwestern Yemeni city of Taiz, dpa reported.
Yemen has witnessed a series of abductions in recent months, but the incident was the first time foreigners have been abducted in Taiz.
Police were trying to identify the culprits and free the man and woman being held hostage, Yemeni media said.
Yemeni tribesmen briefly kidnapped International Committee of the Red Cross employees this month in the southern province of Abyan, but freed them three days later.