De Lille to visit India to showcase SA’s tourism offerings

Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille, her department and other partners will travel to India in December to engage with those in the travel industry, the media and airlines in India to encourage more tourists to visit South Africa.

India is one of the fastest emerging tourism markets globally and last year over 93 million Indians travelled abroad but less than 100 000 visit South Africa annually.

De Lille told “The Mercury” that the India outreach programme will be conducted with a specific focus on tourism recovery.

“Pertinent issues surrounding challenges experienced within the current South African tourism environment will be discussed and special attention will be afforded to issues not limited to air connectivity; E-visa challenges; promoting destination South Africa and sport and culture tourism.

“The platform will also serve to build relationships through interactions and engagements with the tourism trade and civil society, captains of industry as well as other relevant stakeholders in the tourism value chain whilst emphasising tourism as a tool for economic diplomacy,” De Lille said.

She said her department in collaboration with the Presidency and Operation Vulindlela, the Department of Home Affairs recently announced the creation of an innovative new Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) for visas targeting India and China.

Professor Anil Sooklal, the high commissioner of South Africa to India said De Lille had identified India as one of the key markets for inbound tourism to South Africa.

“South Africa attracted 79 000 tourists from India last year and this year that number is expected to reach 100 000, however, this is not even 1% of the outbound tourism market from India.

“The minister intends focusing on engaging her counterparts, the Minister of Tourism in India, as well as with key role players in the tourism industry, during a visit to both New Delhi and Mumbai.

“This includes meeting with the Indian professional league (IPL) as well as meeting with India airlines to discuss direct connectivity between our two countries.”

Sooklal said there is no direct flight between the two countries, describing this as a “major impediment, not only to tourism, but in terms of also advancing business and people to people interaction”.

“This is going to be a very focused roadshow by the minister, and during her visit, we will also be celebrating 30 years of our diplomatic relations with India and also showcasing South Africa assuming the G20 presidency on the first of December 2024.”

Rahul Kaushik, president of the India South Africa Chamber of Commerce (Isacc) said the Indian film industry could offer tremendous opportunities for film making and tourism in the country.

“We want to know their challenges and what other countries are offering to them so we can compete and make our own strategies. There is also an opportunity to bring reality shows from India, they used to come to South Africa but they stopped.”

The Mercury