South Africa to open 4 Visa Application Centres in India after dip in numbers
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With an aim to tap the potential of the growing Indian outbound, South Africa is trying to improve its visa processes in India. The country is planning to add four new Visa Application Centres (VACs) in India in this fiscal year. In the first three quarters of 2015, South Africa has witnessed a dip in tourism due to various factors ranging from visa issuance to the Ebola effect. On the contrary, the country has witnessed growth in the last quarter of 2015 and hopes to witness a great year ahead for tourism.
Speaking about the dip, Derek Hanekom, Minister of Tourism, South Africa said, “Tourism has emerged as one of the major contributing sectors in South Africa’s GDP. Indirectly tourism contributes around nine per cent to our GDP. From the last quarter of 2014, we have seen a hit to the tourism. The figures were going down till the third quarter of 2015. The major reasons behind the dip can be attributed to the fear of Ebola and the immigration process, which especially hit India and China.” He added that the Ebola breakout affected the tourism segment and there were a lot of cancellations. “The fact is there wasn’t even a single case of Ebola in South Africa. We saw a huge dip in tourism footfall from China market. Even the visa process also affected tourism. Currently, a traveller has to personally go to the visa application centre for the application. But now we are looking to increase the VACs and relax a few visa norms. In India, we will introduce four new centres in this year. We are also speculating to give visa-free entry to traveller with a valid US, UK or Canada Visa, but this is still a serious topic under discussion. ”
The South African currency ‘Rand’, is going through a rough time with a steep depreciation. Many larger sectors in the nation are witnessing a slowdown. Despite this devaluation, Minister Hanekom expects the tourism segment to play a game changing role in stabilising the GDP. Hanekom said, “Right now tourism is one the most important sectors, which can help in stabilising the GDP of our country. The devaluation of our currency has actually helped us to attract more tourists from around the world. The last few months, we have witnessed an increase in tourist footfalls. So we expect the upcoming year to be a great year for the tourism sector in South Africa.”
In April 2015, South African Airways had discontinued the Mumbai- Johannesburg route as part of its network optimisation exercise. Hanekom said that now the South African Government is relooking at establishing a direct connectivity. He added, “Till last year, our national carrier used to operate a direct flight between India and South Africa. Currently, travellers can reach our nation comfortably via the Middle-East, Kenya or Ethiopia. Our Government is reconsidering to start the Mumbai-Johannesburg route.”
Also the South African Government has floated tenders looking out for a private partner to organise INDABA. Margie Whitehouse, Chief Marketing Officer, South African Tourism said, “We have already floated a tender looking out for a third party to organise INDABA in PPP mode. In 2016, South African Tourism will be organising the INDABA, but in 2017 we will be looking out for a private partner. We are just waiting for a right partner as INDABA is a very important event for us."