By 2020, India is expected to become the top source market for South Africa replacing United Kingdom. At present India features among the top seven source markets for South Africa. Improved air connectivity, emergence of South Africa as a high-end business events destination, increasing awareness among the travel trade about its leisure and adventure tourism offerings, are some of the factors that have contributed towards this destination’s growing popularity in the India market.
Speaking on the sidelines of the recently concluded South African Tourism’s annual roadshow in Mumbai, Hanneli Slabber, country manager, South African Tourism- India stated, “Presently, India features among the top seven source markets and is expected to become number one by 2020 replacing United Kingdom.”
Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria are some of the popular South African destinations among Indians. However, this year South African Tourism is focusing on promoting smaller regions like Hermanus, Port Elizabeth, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, to name a few. Slabber added that they are focusing on promoting adventure and wine tourism among these smaller regions.
“South Africa gets 50 per cent of repeat travellers. This year we are welcoming people to visit smaller cities and experience the vineyards along with other activities like shopping, art, etc. In South Africa, people travel with their family, so we have created adventure activities for children also. There are 300 Indian restaurants in the country and we have trained the chefs in vegetarian and Jain food. We are also in talks with Etihad Airways to make the connection smoother. To create awareness in the India market, we are hosting familiarisation trips, roadshows and upgrading our specialist training programme constantly to update the knowledge about the destination among the Indian travel trade,” she added.