SA plan to lure tourists from BRICS partners, India and China

ZEPs

South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs will be launching a Trusted Tour Operators system in January to lure more tourists from BRICS partners, China and India.

The system is part of a package of measures, including revised visa rules, that Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber intends introducing.

The department will vet the tour operators from China and India, which will manage the entry requirements of organised tour groups, thus enabling easier access for tourists from those countries, according to Businesstech. Tourists from the two countries currently require authorisation before travelling to South Africa, while travellers from the US and UK don’t require visas for short stays.

While South Africa attracted 350 000 tourists each from the US and the UK last year, arrivals from India and China – both members of the BRICS bloc – were well short of that, at 80,000, and 37,000 respectively.

“Tourism is one of South Africa’s natural advantages; it’s one of the things we should be excelling at,” Schreiber told Bloomberg TV.

“Yet we have seen in terms of the statistics that South Africa lags behind in terms of major source markets, China and India specifically.”

The Trusted Tour Operators system will eventually be replaced by an electronic travel authorisation system, according to Schreiber.

“We believe that that’s low-hanging fruit that can really boost the South African economy,” Schreiber said.

Hospitality association Fedhasa has previously welcomed the introduction of the Trusted Tourism Operator scheme and has highlighted the importance of China to tourism in South Africa

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