South Africa hopes to cross 100k mark with high arrival numbers from India
India, particularly the western region, is showing high arrival numbers for South Africa, so much so that it soon hopes to cross the 100,000 mark.
The numbers from India to South Africa have not stopped growing. From January 2017 to November 2017, South Africa records show that 89,882 Indian tourists entered the country. Alpa Jani, Acting Hub-Head (Middle East, India & South East Asia), South African Tourism, feels that this number would have gone higher. “We were hoping to
In India, you need to look at the length of stay as well as the package configuration because we sell so many activities – more than any other market Hanneli Slabber
The western India region is our biggest market with almost 37 per cent of our total arrivals coming from Mumbai alone Alpa Jani
cross the 100,000 mark last year but due to issues like demonetisation and GST, we couldn’t. So we are hoping that we will pass this milestone in 2018. The western India region is our biggest market with almost 37 per cent of our total arrivals coming from Mumbai alone,” she says.
This is followed by New Delhi, which is why these two cities are constants for South African Tourism’s annual roadshow. Having just concluded this year’s show, Jani says, “It is one of the biggest roadshows in the tourism industry in India currently and it shows our commitment towards the India market. We had approximately 60 exhibitors from South Africa with a great mix of DMCs, hotel groups, airlines and local tourism bodies like Cape Town, Oudtshoorn, Durban, along with a lot of activity providers like bungy jumping, shark-cage diving and hot air ballooning.”
Activities are key for South Africa as one of the constant trends indicate that Indians are not only becoming extremely adventurous, but also love to indulge in a lot of activities when in South Africa. “In fact, we have seen them do as much as 10 activities in a day! Indians are doing a lot of activities in the Garden Route area because there is so much to do in close proximities,” Jani reveals. The cities covered this year included Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, New Delhi and Ahmedabad. Hanneli Slabber, Regional General Manager (Asia, Australasia & Middle East), South African Tourism, offers a bigger picture. She says, “It is not enough to just look at the arrival figures in isolation. In India, you need to look at the length of stay as well as the package configuration because we sell so many activities – more than any other market. We get a better picture of the market when we analyse all these factors.”