South African Tourism is introducing newer destinations to the discerning Indian travellers and reach its target of 100,000 tourist arrivals from India in 2019. It is aggressively marketing adventure sports and unique experiences at the destination along with a focus on the destination weddings

 In an attempt to reconnect and develop new business ties with the travel trade fraternity in India, the South African Tourism conducted its annual roadshows in the key metro cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi. During this year’s roadshow, the tourism board unveiled its strategy charted to surpass 100,000 Indian visitors in 2019. The roadshows were intends to capitalise on the strong potential of consumer demand in India.

Recognising the evolving demands of the Indian traveller and in continued efforts to enable trade partners, the 66-member South African trade delegation, that included six new SMMEs, reiterated the tourism board’s emphasis on expanding the destination and product offering. In addition to experiences, representatives from accommodation establishments, destination management companies, airlines, tourism associations displayed their products and engaged with the Indian travel and trade partners.

For the period of January to September 2018, Mumbai contributed 45 per cent to the overall Indian arrivals to South Africa while Delhi was at 17.4 per cent, Chennai at 7.7 per cent and Kolkata at 1.6 per cent. “Our brand research shows that Indian travellers prefer South Africa as a holiday destination, due to the memorability and value for money it offers. We will continue to drive this demand by introducing a wider geographical area, thus allowing us to introduce new experiences. We remain focused on customising our engagements and product offerings to suit the unique requirements from each of our target regions within India,” said Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head for the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, South African Tourism.

With iconic cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban as draw cards, the tourism board is growing efforts to promote the engaging surrounds of newer regions like Stellenbosch, George, Simon’s Town, Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth and East London in the current year. In 2018, there was a higher uptake in the demand for and travel to new and off-beat provinces like Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Free State.

In response to the need for introducing new experiences, the tourism board will lay special emphasis on promoting the diversity of activities and experiences. With Indian travellers consuming the highest adventure activities outside of South Africans, the board will deepen focus to promote the 3000+ adventure activities that the country offers including off-beat activities like long tom toboggan rides, fatbike tours, mountain boarding and walking safaris, along with popular activities like abseiling and paragliding.

Along with building, cementing and sustaining two-way tourism ties between India and South Africa, the brand is also seeking new and creative ways to enhance the destination’s USP. “We are keen on optimising our collaboration with complementary African nations to enhance our value proposition. In particular, we have been exploring partnerships with Mauritius and Seychelles that will enable us to co-promote both destinations,” added Nkani.

While consolidating its position in wildlife, adventure and cultural offerings, the destination will also target the niche wedding market, for which South African Tourism has seen an upswing in enquiries. For this, the tourism board is engaging aggressively to educate trade partners about the variety of world-class facilities, distinctive attractions, unforgettable and value for money experiences available at the destination.

Nkani further said, “As India plays a key role in achieving our 5-in-5 target, which includes four million international visitors, we are now looking to double our marketing efforts and enhancing destination marketing support within the region. While we are already widely known for our wildlife offerings, the 5-point strategy for 2019 will ensure that we incorporate certain measures and leverage partnerships to position and cement ourselves as the ‘Adventure Capital of the World’, while building preference as a wedding destination for the India market.”

To make travel easier to the destination, the South African Tourism has been working closely with the Consulate General of South Africa in Mumbai to introduce an updated visa procedure. For this, they are collaborating to accredit select travel agents and tour operators to allow fast-tracking visa applications from preferred partners. At present, the visa process takes  5-7 days, which is a lot shorter than some of their competitors.

With 86,405 arrivals as of November 2018, the destination board shared a positive outlook for the Indian market, noting that as of June 2018, the total spend by Indian travellers in South Africa had increased by 20 per cent and that there was an upswing in the average length of stay, a growth of 7.7 per cent and the total bed nights increased by four per cent.