Agents get visa breather

Travel agents are set to benefit from the special visa regulation that South Africa has just launched, which will allow business travellers, that includes agents as well, a three-year multiple entry visa into the country.

As an interesting spin-off to the special dispensation that South Africa has provided to Indian businessmen traveling to the country, travel agents will also get to benefit from this scheme.

Announcing this program, HE Pule Malefane, Consul General of South Africa in Mumbai, said, “There is a special dispensation that has been arranged for business executives which includes travel agents. They are now allowed a three-year multiple entry visa provided they don’t overstay in a single visit for more than 30 days. We have introduced this because their work dictates that from time to time they make short or long trips to South Africa. It has already been introduced and agents can avail of this.”

This special dispensation will be provided on a case-tocase basis. The step is possibly to attract more investments to the country from BRICS countries. South African Tourism had recently organised a daylong ‘Tourism and Investment Conference 2015’ in partnership with the South African High Commission in New Delhi to provide information on tourism and investment opportunities in the country.

It had also announced a new South African Immigration Policy at the event which allows certain categories of business executives a three to ten-year multiple entry visas. “We don’t make a public announcement for this because we don’t want to attract the wrong kind of people. We have therefore communicated this with those who interact with us on a regular basis,” the Consul General added.

With this, the country also expects a spurt in Indian arrivals. Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism, said, “We have consistently increased our marketing spends in India to promote tourism as it is slated to become the biggest market for South Africa tourism by 2020, when we expect five lakh travellers. We are very optimistic about the Indian market and are expecting a double digit growth of about 12 per cent this year.”

VFS Global recently opened seven new Visa Application Centres for South Africa in India in Jaipur, Gurgaon, Kolkata, Goa, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru.

Speaking about the challenges that this program might pose to the destination, Malefane said, “Each country faces with its own sets of challenges, be it crime, human and drug trafficking, or espionage activities. So we will have to ensure that all visitors are legitimate.”