TOURISTS FROM CHINA SA’S NEW GOLDEN TICKET

THE number of Chinese tourists travelling globally is on the rise making this market the “new gold” the world over.

With China being the number one outbound tourism market in the world in terms of trips abroad and expenditure, every country wants to attract Chinese visitors – and South Africa and Kwazulu-natal (KZN) are no exception.

Chinese visitors have become one of South Africa’s priority tourism markets, with 97 271 visiting the country last year, staying an average of 15 days and spending R15 800 each, which equated to R1.4 billion.

KZN – which has a thriving Chinese business community – is also seeing a steady increase of Chinese tourists with 6 225 having visited the province in 2017, staying an average of 12.9 nights and spending R12 600 each, thus boosting the region’s coffers by more than R78 million.

Peak visiting times are around Chinese New Year in January/ February; between May and June when the Chinese take their annual holidays; and during the annual national Golden Week holidays in October.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently visited China on a State visit hosted by President Xi in Beijing, where one of his tasks was to promote South Africa as a desirable tourism destination for the Chinese.

To make Chinese visitors’ travel experience even more seamless,

South Africa has established visa facilitation centres in 11 Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xian, Shenyang, Wuhan, Jinan, Hangzhou and, most recently, Kunming and Chongqing.

Biometrics can be taken on arrival in South Africa. Visa applications are also allowed via courier and Chinese tourists can now get fiveyear multiple entry visas. Chinese business travellers are issued with a 10-year multiple entry visa within five days of their application.

Against this background of a China focus, more and more local companies are increasing the number of Mandarin-speaking guides, getting their promotional material and websites translated into Mandarin, are becoming more computer savvy, and some are even considering a Chinese name for their email signatures.

Our tourism promotion in the coming years continues to leverage on KZN’S connectivity to the world with our recent direct flight announcement from British Airways, in addition to other direct flights.