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South African Tourism started 2019 with its annual roadshow. It hopes to capitalise on the strong demand in India in order to exceed the target of 1,00,000 Indian visitors to South Africa in the current year. Recognising the evolving demands of the Indian traveller and in continued efforts to enable trade partners, a 56-member South African trade delegation, that included six new SMMEs, reiterated the tourism board’s emphasis on expanding the destination and product offerings.

Past trends

For the period of January to September 2018, Mumbai contributed 45% to the overall Indian arrivals to South Africa while Delhi was at 17.4%, Chennai at 7.7% and Kolkata at 1.6%. Over 1300 Indian travel agents attended the interactive roadshow sessions to better synergise and address the ever evolving demands of the Indian traveller. Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head, MEISEA, South African Tourism, said, “Our brand research shows that Indian travellers prefer South Africa as a holiday destination due to the memorability and value for money it offers. We will continue to drive this demand by introducing a wider geographical area, thus allowing us to introduce new experiences. We remain focused on customising our engagements and product offerings to suit the unique requirements from each of our target regions within India.”

With iconic cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban as draw cards, the South African Tourism Board is growing its efforts to promote newer regions like Stellenbosch, George, Simon’s Town, Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth, and East London in the current year.

In response to the need for introducing new experiences, the tourism board will lay special emphasis on promoting the diversity of activities and experiences. With Indian travellers consuming the highest adventure activities after South Africans, the board will deepen focus to promote the 3000 plus adventure activities that South Africa offers including off-beat activities like the long tom toboggan rides, fatbike tours, mountain boarding and walking safaris along with popular activities like abseiling and paragliding.

Sectorial targets of tourism

Along with building and sustaining two-way tourism ties between India and South Africa, the brand is also seeking new and creative ways to enhance the destination’s USP. “We are keen on optimising our collaboration with complementary African nations to enhance our value proposition. In particular, we have been exploring partnerships with Mauritius and Seychelles that will enable us to co-promote both destinations,” added Neliswa Nkani.

While consolidating its position in wildlife, adventure and cultural offerings, the country will also target the niche wedding market, for which South African Tourism has seen an upswing in enquiries. Speaking about the importance of India as they unveiled the brand strategy, Neliswa Nkani said, “As India plays a key role in achieving our 5-in-5 target - which includes 4 million international visitors - we are now looking to double our marketing efforts and enhancing destination marketing support within the region. While we are already widely known for our wildlife offerings, the five-point strategy for 2019 will ensure that we incorporate certain measures and leverage partnerships to position and cement ourselves as the adventure capital of the world, while building preference as a wedding destination for the India market.”

Sharing close relations

South African Tourism has been working closely with the Consulate General of South Africa in Mumbai to introduce an updated visa procedure. South African Consul General Maropene Ramokgopa said, “In an effort to ease visa procedures, the Consulate of South Africa is working in close association with South African Tourism. We are collaborating to accredit select travel agents and tour operators to allow fast-tracking visa applications from preferred partners. We ensure a quick turnaround time of 5-7 days which is a lot shorter than some of our competitors.”