‘We want to cross 1 lakh visitors’

South African Tourism is penetrating deeper into India’s tiered cities to address the untapped,cash-rich travellers. Despite no direct air connectivity and no e-visa facility, the tourism board targets 100,000 visitors from India in next financial year. Neliswa Nkani – Hub Head – Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, South African Tourism, reveals more.

Hazel Jain

The destination has seen a 43 per cent increase in terms of tourist numbers from India, which has prompted South African Tourism to target a smooth 100,000 arrival milestone by next FY. Neliswa Nkani – its Hub Head – Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, says, “Right now, India is at number seven in terms of arrivals. This is without a direct airline and without an e-visa facility. If we had these two, I think India would be sitting at the number one position for South Africa. We are very optimistic; India has 960 million passport holders and of this, 440 million are millennials. So there is a lot of potential.”

Indians have also increased in value for South Africa. “We used to see Indians staying between seven and 10 days in South Africa. Now they stay back for 14 days. So, we see an increase in spend and stay nights in South Africa. Earlier, it was anywhere between `22,000 and `30,000, which could go up to `45,000-`150,000 for HNIs,” Nkani adds.

Tiered markets on radar now

South African Tourism recently concluded its 20th annual India roadshow covering five cities of Jaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. Travel agents from Pune also attended the Mumbai leg of the show where 42 trade exhibitors from South Africa were present. To this, Nkani adds, “The idea is to expand our geographical reach in the market. The growth and the money is sitting in tier two markets of India. We must chase the travellers in these tiered markets. We are going to possibly repeat these cities later in the year. We might be going to Chandigarh, Nagpur, Kochi, and Lucknow.”

M!CE is also a huge segment for the destination. While 45 per cent is leisure, 46 per cent is M!CE, of which 21 per cent is incentives from the India market. “India is the largest contributor in terms of incentive travel to South Africa. The Indian traveller is an adventure junkie. We have learned that they are not coming to South Africa to rest. They want to be fatigued. People are now kayaking, sky diving, paragliding, jet-skiing, shark-cage diving, glamping and even golfing is gaining popularity,” she said. Nkani is also excited about the World Cup Cricket that will be held in South Africa in October and November 2027.

India in top 3 focus markets

India is currently one of the fastest growing outbound travel markets, outpacing Asia and many countries around the world. The country is among the top-three focus markets for South African Tourism. South African Tourism is currently running its flagship ‘More & More’ brand campaign across target cities. The tourism board is also set to host its Corporate Think Tank in the coming months to engage with Indian corporates and address their business and M!CE travel needs. At present, several stop-over flights fly from India to South Africa, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways and Air Seychelles.

Inbound tourism from Mumbai for South Africa grew 37 per cent year on year in 2023 and heftily contributed towards leisure and business travel momentum witnessed. Notably, 46 per cent of arrivals from Mumbai gravitated towards exploring the natural attractions of the Rainbow Nation. Delhi is currently the second largest market for South African Tourism in India. Interestingly, 36 per cent of Delhiites travelled to the country for business purposes while 72 per cent of travellers from Delhi spent most on shopping when in-destination.

Numbers don’t lie

• Pre-pandemic, 95,000 arrivals were from India, and post-pandemic, this went up to 79,992. This is a 43 per cent increase in terms of numbers.
• Conducted across 5 cities in 5 days, the roadshow hosted over 12,000 meetings and generated more than 1,60,000 on the immediate leads for South African suppliers.
• The roadshow collectively hosted more than 1,200 travel trade partners from across 40 Indian cities.