Bengaluru
South African Tourism on Wednesday said South Africa was currently working on e-visas for Indians who want to travel to the country for leisure, business, wildlife, sports, film or education.
“We are glad to announce that South Africa is on track to roll out e-visas for Indian applicants in the coming months,’‘ said Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head, MEISEA, South African Tourism.
Addressing a media conference in Bengaluru, Ms. Nkani said boosting connectivity to ensure ease of travel to the destination was a core area of focus for South African Tourism this year.
“We are also conscious of the need for value-driven itineraries and are undertaking bullish measures to ensure that every rupee spent ensures maximum returns,’‘ she said.
In this regard, South African Tourism was engaging with airlines to work out subsidised fares for Indian travellers. “We are looking to bring the cost of travel remarkably down for Indian travellers,’‘ she added.
At present, several stop-over flights, including Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Air Arabia, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways and Air Mauritius, fly from India to South Africa. According to her, India is among the top three focus markets for South Africa with Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune continuing to be key source players. “We look at capitalising on strong consumer demand so as to accelerate travel recovery momentum in India. We are already seeing an uptick in forward travel bookings and hope to further build Indian aspiration and intent to travel,’‘ she added. South African tourism promotion board is looking at garnering a 64% year-on-year increase in Indian visitors in 2022.
