South African Tourism, the tourism marketing agency of that country, is betting big on Indian travellers. The agency has introduced city-specific packages for select Indian cities, including Chennai, said a top official.
“We have drawn up an internal target to welcome more than 1 lakh Indian visitors in 2017,” said Hanneli Slabber, country manager, India, South African Tourism.
“Last year, South African Tourism received over 95,000 Indian visitors against 78,000 in the previous year, marking an increase of over 21%.”
Job creator
Indicating that tourism was not only an industry, but also a job creator for them, she said: “Currently, India occupies eighth position among South Africa’s international source market. The overall spends from India (excluding flights, attractions and hotels booked in advance) crossed 1.2 billion ZAR by the year end.
“The rand (ZAR)—rupee exchange rate has been relatively favourable for the Indian market, she said.
Ms. Slabber said that Chennai has been one of the most rapidly growing source markets driving tourist traffic to South Africa be it leisure or family tours. Chennai city accounted for 10% of total Indian business volume.
“We are keen to keep attracting Chennai’s travel enthusiasts and potential is brimming. We have different packages for different Indian cities as there are no common holidays in India. The package for Kolkata is different from Chennai,” she said.
On Thursday, South African Tourism conducted the seventh edition of its annual travel trade training sessions in Chennai. It was aimed at equipping travel agents with the best tips to sell the destination and also offer customised and special packages.
