South Africa has launched an innovative new scheme to increase tourism, especially from India and China, inviting tour operators from those two countries to join their local counterparts in signing up to the scheme.

Two months after Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, conceptualised the concept, his Department on Tuesday announced the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), which is aimed at enhancing job creation that flows from increased tourism.

This followed discussion with the tourism ministry and the tourism sector in the country to find ways of eliminating visa inefficiency and red tape which had throttled South Africa’s ability to attract more tourists from these two burgeoning source markets.

“To resolve bottlenecks and reposition Home Affairs as an economic enabler, the Department has today gazetted a call for expression of interest by established tour operators from South Africa and abroad who wish to sign up to the scheme to bring more tourists from China and India to our country,” the department said in a statement.

It cited statistics showing how Chinese tourists made over 100 million outbound trips in 2023, with South Africa receiving only 93,000 of these arrivals.

In comparison, a country like Australia attracted over 1.4 million visitors from China in 2023.

“At the moment, Indian tourists account for only 3.9 per cent of all international visitors to South Africa – and China for only 1.8 per cent. Research indicates that boosting tourism by only 10 per cent per year can increase annual economic growth by 0.6 per cent and create thousands of new jobs for South Africans,” the department said.

TTOS is designed to overcome concrete problems, including challenges with processing group visa applications from these countries, capacity constraints at foreign missions, and language barriers, it said.

Approved tour operators will benefit from reduced red tape and enhanced turnaround times on visa applications they submit for large tour groups, it said.

Indian operators have for several years now lamented the long delays in securing visas for their clients, which TTOS now aims to address as well, the department said.

All TTOS applications will be handled by a dedicated team of adjudicators to ensure swift and reliable processing. In turn, operators will be held liable for any legal transgressions committed by tourists travelling under their banner, it said.

The qualifications criteria for the scheme were drawn up through public consultation with the tourism sector and other key stakeholders, it said.

“All applications to TTOS will be fairly and transparently adjudicated according to a points-based system that allocates points on the basis of a company’s legal compliance, operating experience, proof of operational capacity, and cross-country collaboration. A minimum of 12 months’ operational experience will be a prerequisite for an applicant to be considered,” the department said.

The call for expression of interest will be open for a period of 30 days, whereafter the Home Affairs will, in collaboration with other departments, assess and security vet applications with the aim of enrolling a first group of tour operators, it said.

“Our target remains to welcome the first tourists brought to South Africa through TTOS in January 2025. Home Affairs will consider further intakes for the scheme in future, depending on internal capacity and the success of the rollout,” the department said.

Indian companies that wish to express an interest in the scheme simply need to visit touroperator.dha.gov.za:8443 or access the portal via the TTOS banner on www.dha.gov.za, it said.

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