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The 15th edition of South African Tourism’s biggest travel trade initiative in India started in Mumbai on February 12, 2018 and covered four more India cities – Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Ahmedabad.
A strong South African Tourism trade delegation of 60 members travelled to all these cities for the roadshow. India is currently the eighth largest international source market for South African Tourism. The roadshow aimed to capitalise on the growing demand and align efforts to meet the evolving demands of the Indian traveller.
Hanneli Slabber, Regional General Manager, Asia/Australasia/Middle East, South African Tourism averred that South Africa received about 10 million international tourists last year end November 2017, which has opened approximately 1.5 million jobs. She highlighted that South Africa has more than 60 products to offer to the world and the country is one of the most responsible and sustainable destinations in the world.
For the period of Jan 2017 to September 2017, MICE contributed 32.8% of total Indian arrivals into South Africa, leisure holidays made up 26.8% while business travellers made up 16.4%. Another significant observation was the rise in millennial Indian travellers to South Africa, in the first quarter for 2017, nearly 35% of the Indian visitor base comprised of 35 year olds while, for the second quarter of the year, this pie grew to 46%. In 2017, Mumbai contributed 37% to the overall Indian arrivals to South Africa while Delhi was at 22%, Gujarat at 11%, Bangalore at 8% and West Bengal at 7%
When talking to Travel News Digest, Alpa Jani, Acting Hub-Head, Middle East/India/SouthEast Asia, South Africa Tourism, revealed, “South Africa received 89,882 Indian arrivals from January to November 2017 and this number is on par with the number of tourists South Africa received in the year 2016. Our target for 2018 is about 100,000 Indian arrivals to South Africa. Indian travellers majorly travel with family, but South Africa has products to offer to every segment of the market. We are planning to promote South Africa through roadshow, joint marketing with trade, TV ads, print ads and digital ads.”
One of the key focus areas of South African Tourism is to go beyond the popular Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg & surrounds and Kruger National Park and create awareness about new destinations like Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth and the Drakensberg region.
Over 70 international airlines now fly into South Africa. Efforts are on to increase seat capacity on relevant flight routes ex-India. Presently, Mumbai and Delhi are connected to South African cities by Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad Airways, Air Seychelles, Turkish Airlines and Jet Airways which fly via their respective hubs and domestic India connections.
Source: travelnewsdigest.in
