South Africa expects the number of Indian visitors to the country to stand at 1,33,000 at the end of the current financial year, an increase of 12 per cent, driven by various initiatives to promote itself.
“We expect the number of travellers from India to rise by 12 per cent to around 1,33,000 in the 2013-14 financial year over the previous fiscal,” South Africa Tourism Regional Director (Asia, Australasia) Evelyn Mahlaba told The Hindu in an interview.
At present, India is the seventh source market in terms of traveller visiting South Africa, based on 2012 figures. The U.K. is South Africa’s biggest market with 4,00,000 visitors in 2012, followed by the U.S., Germany and China.
“We had set a target of crossing one lakh tourist arrivals from India by 2014 but we achieved that in 2012 itself. Over the years, South African Tourism has witnessed a tremendous increase in Indian tourist arrivals. About 84,202 Indian tourists have visited South Africa between January 2013 and September 2013, an increase of 8.4 per cent vis-à-vis the same period last year,” she added.
Total Indian arrivals to the country stood at 1,19,000 in 2012-13 and 1,19,000 in 2011-12.
As per South Africa Tourism’s data, Indian travellers’ average length of stay is 13.8 nights.
Additionally, to promote the country as a travel destination, South African Tourism will be organising a four-city roadshow in Kolkata, New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.
