In order to boost tourist arrivals from India, South Africa is all set to introduce a new visa processing system where authorised tour operators across the country would be able to handle the visa requests by Indian travellers, for business or tourism and for individuals as well as groups of any size.

This was announced by Patricia de Lille, Minister of Tourism of South Africa, at a press conference in New Delhi today. Lille is currently in India for a week-long visit, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and South Africa.

For de Lille, who has been advocating for easier visas for Indian visitors and the restoration of a direct flight connectivity between the two countries, the new visa regime represents a major victory.

South African Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille (Photo: India Outbound)

“The good news is that we have finally, finally resolved the visa issues for the Indians. Finally, it is now something of the past and the way we have done that is in South Africa, we accept that India and China are part of the BRICS family. And we had a different dispensation for a for Brazil and Russia and a different dispensation for India and China. And after a year-long discussion, we have invited tour operators in India to register with us so that they can handle the visa application for Indian tourists, whether individual or group, and whether a group of five or 10 or 200 people,’’ de Lille announced at the press conference.

The Minister added that the tour operators would then submit the applications on a dedicated portal on which the visas would be processed within a targetted deadline of 1-3 days.

De Lille said though so far 23 tour operators had applied, she was keen on getting many more on board. “Later on today, we will be meeting with over 200 tour operators from India, although only 23 have applied. We realise that there are a lot more tour operators in India as India is big. So in my meeting with the Minister of Tourism of India yesterday, I requested for a database of all the tour operators in India so that we can contact them and ask them to register,’’ de Lille said.

“We are very excited that the tour operator system will take effect on January 20, 2025 which is when we launch a test phase of the system and based on the advice and feedback we receive from tour operators, we will tweak the system to make it more efficient,” she added.

Another system that will be implemented by South Africa is Electronic Travel Agreement or e-visa where qualified Indian travellers can apply for and obtain an e-visa from their homes, within a targetted turnaround time of 2-3 days, de Lille informed the media.

The Tourism Minister along with the CEO of South African Tourism is currently in India for a week-long visit, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and South Africa (Photo: India Outbound)

The minister also announced introduction of standardised documentation for South African visas around the world. “We found out that over the years officials just added extra criteria to the application like they wanted a copy of a death certificate or a divorce certificate, or more and more copies of your bank statements and thereby delaying the approval of the application. And in some instance also where you provide all the documents, you are sometimes rejected. We have now standardised our procedures across the world to bring all our missions abroad, just like the legislation states and all of those additions that they have added over the years are unlawful. And so they will be basically three criteria that you will be asked if you visit our High Commission or our Consulate General. And those are, ‘when are you travelling to South Africa, the purpose of your visit? How long do you intend to stay in our country and where are you going to stay?’ That is all that is required for a visa application,’’ de Lille said.

In 2023, South Africa received 79,000 visitors from India, below the pre-pandemic high of 95,000 in 2019. Now with visas being simplified and expedited, de Lille said, she was certain there would be a massive jump in the number of Indian visitors to South Africa.

“Currently India accounts for 3.9 pc of all international arrivals in South Africa. And I think we can all agree it is too low. And together with the tour operators and our High Commission, we want to increase that share to 10 pc. So we will be setting ourselves some targets and we will all be working together to to achieve those targets,’’ de Lille said.

On Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) segment, de Lille said that South Africa was the leading destination for MICE in the continent and also leading in the Middle East and the potential was immense. The country generated USD 6.6 billion in revenues through MICE in 2023 and hence promoting MICE was a key part of her agenda in India, she said.

Nombulelo Guliwe, CEO (Photo: India Outbound)

“To be very honest, MICE sustained us when we were dealing with challenges on visas. It was MICE, corporate travel and incentive travel from India that allowed us to maintain our marketing in India because we found that it was easier for groups to actually get their visas to travel to South Africa. So it is a key segment for South African Tourism. It is one that we will focus on even for the next five years,’’ Nombulelo Guliwe, Chief Executive Officer, South African Tourism told India Outbound on the sidelines of the press meet.

In terms of upcoming events in South Africa, de Lille said that though there were several sports and cultural events organised all year round, her focus was the upcoming cricket championship that South Africa would host in 2027.

“In 2027 South Africa will be hosting the World T20 Cricket Championship and I am sure lots of Indians will come to watch. So, already, as the Department of Tourism, we are working together with Department of Sports and Culture to make sure that we set up a dedicated team together with the Department of Home Affairs, which can process the visas for cricket fans,’’ she added.

De Lille told the media that South Africa, in partnership with India, was also building a temple just like the Akshardham Temple in Delhi. The temple, which would be the largest such temple in the southern hemisphere, is situated in Johannesburg and that the Head Priest of the Swaminarayan movement in India will inaugurate the first phase of the temple in January 2025.