TravTalk India Online Magazine
India has emerged as the seventh-largest overseas international market for South Africa, reflecting its growing significance in bilateral travel ties. Nombulelo Guliwe, CEO, South African Tourism, was in India recently as part of a bigger delegation to further the connections that the two countries have forged.
Hazel Jain
Emphasising the critical role of tourism in connecting India and South Africa, Nombulelo Guliwe, CEO, South African Tourism, said, “Tourism acts as a gateway to building deeper connections between India and South Africa. By showcasing our country’s unmatched natural beauty, vibrant culture, and warm hospitality, we hope to inspire Indian travellers to explore the diverse experiences South Africa has to offer, like leisure experiences but also adventure, wildlife exploration, and luxury tourism. Through innovations in visa facilitation and partnerships with Indian tour operators, we aim to make South Africa more accessible and attractive to this growing market. Year 2023 stood out as a significant milestone, highlighted by an impressive 43 per cent increase in travellers from India compared to the previous year.” She added, “Building on this success, our early 2024 roadshow facilitated over 12,000 meetings, generating more than 160,000 on-the-spot leads for South African Tourism. With this momentum, we are ambitiously targeting 100,000 Indian tourists by the end of FY 2024-25.”
South Africa witnessed a significant influx of tourists from India, with a total of 57,992 arrivals recorded from January to October 2024. India has emerged as the seventh-largest overseas international market for South Africa, reflecting its growing significance in bilateral travel ties. Notably, there has been a 25 per cent year-on-year growth in Indian travellers aged 41–50, alongside a 10 per cent increase in family travel to South Africa. Among Indian visitors to the Rainbow Nation in 2024, Mumbai contributes the largest share at 64.3 per cent, followed by Delhi. Leisure travel constitutes 38.8 per cent of overall Indian arrivals, with 18.3 per cent motivated by VFR. Additionally, the MICE segment remains a key focus area, representing 19.1 per cent of Indian travellers within the broader 49.7 per cent MICE and business travel category. For the January to December 2024 period, South African Tourism has set an ambitious target of achieving a 15 per cent growth in arrivals from India.
Growth strategy
Sharing the tourism board’s vision for growth, she says, “It’s dealing with the key enablers to South Africa, so we’ve listened to our travellers, we have listened to the trade, and we are here to share some progress that we’ve made around issues of visa, around issues of airlift, but more importantly from a destination marketing perspective, around how we’re going to market the destination so that we start showing different sides to South Africa, not just adventure, but the different experiences that we have in all our nine provinces.”
MICE in focus
The MICE segment from India has grown in importance for South Africa in the last five years. “It has sustained the numbers that we have got from the market. Out of the 79,000 that we got in the last financial year, there is a significant portion from MICE. Our groups, incentives, corporate travel increased because there was a matching balance on the ease of access where it was easier to get group visas. We will continue to look at MICE,” Guliwe adds.
Engagement with travel partners
Part of the engagements in India for her was to hear from the travel trade and market the destination. “You are on the ground selling. How do we reconcile the two in such a way that it’s efficient for us to convert? So, the trade is important. Part of our targets is the distribution channel enhancement, where we deal with trade and say, you have to package South Africa in such a way that you drive conversion,” she says. She also referred to the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme launched for group visas.
