Earlier this year, the tourism board outlined a strategic roadmap to garner 64% YoY increase in Indian visitors in 2022. With over 4,600 Indian visitors travelling to South Africa during January & February 2022 itself, the tourism board is well on track to achieve or even surpass these targets, especially with the opening up of international air routes and easing of travel restrictions.
According to South African Tourism, 7000+ visas have been issued from Delhi and Mumbai until now this year.
Having successfully launched and promoted diverse, authentic destination offerings via the More & More campaign, that was immediately followed by a Four-city Roadshow in India and experiential consumer, corporate and trade activations, the tourism board is witnessing an uptick in demand for the destination.
Speaking on this, Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head – Middle East, India and South East Asia, South African Tourism said, “We are grateful to the trade fraternity for their support and conviction in the brand that enables us to roll-out offbeat and value-for-money itineraries. This year, we anticipate that MICE will be a driving force behind travel recovery and are happy to share that the tourism board is already seeing enquiries for large groups ranging from 2000 to 4000 pax from India.”
At present, several stop-over flights fly from India to South Africa, including Emirates, Air Seychelles, Qatar Airways, Etihad, RwandAir, Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways.
Travellers from India to South Africa will be required to produce either a complete vaccination certificate or a negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test, not older than 72 hours from the time of departure from the country of origin to South Africa.
South African Tourism, along with 32 prominent South African exhibitors, showcased and introduced novel and upgraded destination offerings at the 29th edition of SATTE recently.
The collective South African exhibition concluded a multitude of productive meetings and new business partnerships with the key players in the travel and tourism industry.
