Between long haul flights and the hardships of obtaining the requisite visas, getting to South Africa was a tricky proposition for tourists. However, it’s about to get a bit easier – for Indians, at least – with an online visa facility made operative last month. Ivor Vaz reports…
In an endeavour to stimulate the India tourism market and achieve its new milestone of doubling numbers by 2030, South African government announced an electronic visa application system (e-Visa) regime for the India market on a pilot basis. It has since begun processing visa applications online for Indian passengers from the third week of January.
Earlier in December 2019, the South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA) announced that it had officially begun testing its fledgling e-Visa system on an international scale with trials with visitors from Kenya.
According to South African Tourism Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi- Ngubane, who was in Mumbai as part of a road show to promote South African tourism in India, if the pilot project in India goes through without any glitch, a full rollout will take place from April 1, 2020.
“As soon as the e-Visa to South Africa will be approved, the traveller will be allowed to stay in South Africa for tourism purposes for a maximum period of 30 days for a single entry,” she informed. The online application process, said to take about 20 minutes, is aimed at
reducing administrative burdens. It will also save prospective travellers the stress of going to the South African embassy or consulate to obtain a visa.
“We are continuously monitoring this pilot process to ensure that user experience is not compromised. In early 2020, we’ll include India, China and Nigeria to the pilot, which will run until March 2020,” she added.
While emphasising the number of measures taken by her government to provide ease of access to Indian tourists, including bringing changes in the visa regime, Kubayi-Ngubane also said that the South African government was exploring the possibility of a third country air transport carrier being allowed to operate a direct flight to Mumbai from South Africa. The proposal in this regard is likely to be discussed with the Indian government soon. As things stand, currently, there is no direct flight service between India and South Africa. South African Airways had operated flights between Johannesburg and Mumbai.
As per South African Tourism Board estimates about 81,316 Indian visited the country as of October 2019. “There is a positive outlook for the Indian market,” the South African Tourism minister said. As of September 2019, total expenditure by Indian travellers in South Africa touched a four-year high. In the first half of 2019, average length of stay of travellers from India rose 8% on a year-on-year basis.
The African country is expecting the number of Indian arrivals to grow to one lakh in 2020. South Africa is also in talks with India for granting ‘multiple-entry visa’, the minister said.
The country is also looking to fast track the visa process of the Indian travellers who hold a US or Schengen visa by sharing data. While spelling out the new tourism policy, the African minister said that her country is looking to project South Africa as an favourite travel destination for Indians. “Our country has witnessed a 30.2% growth in tourists arrivals from India on a yearon- year basis and it could increase to 50% over a period of time,” the minister informed.
According to her, segments such as MICE and sports tourism would drive the growth, and that South Africa has also emerged as a wedding destination.
32 travel agents from the travel-trade industry and the media attended the session, wherein they discussed ideas on how they can push numbers from India.
