Tourism bosses from India are not happy with the fact that only about 50 000 South African tourists visit India annually, while more than 100 000 tourists from the subcontinent travel to South Africa.
In a drive to increase the number of South African tourists to the country, India Tourism hosted road shows under its “Incredible India” campaign in Joburg, Durban and Cape Town last week.
Speaking to The Mercury at the Durban event Vikas Rustagi, a regional director for India Tourism, said tourism numbers out of the country to India were “disappointing”, especially considering South Africa’s close links with India, and it being the biggest economy in Africa.
“South Africa is the No 1 tourism-generating market for India in Africa… But, with only 50 000 tourists coming to India from this country, we believe there is a lot more potential for growth. In fact, more than double this number of tourists from India come to South Africa annually and the growth rates are higher,” he said.
“It’s good to be here in Durban to promote India as one of the most diverse and vibrant tourism destinations in the world. Durban is home to the biggest Indian diaspora population outside India and played an important part in our history, with Mahatma Gandhi having spent his formative years here.
“We get a significant number of travellers out of Durban to India, but the overall numbers out of South Africa are still too low. We are not encouraged by the numbers and this needs to change, considering the strong historical, cultural, political and economic links between South Africa and India. Both countries are also part of the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc of emerging nations and we need to leverage off this to boost tourism numbers between both countries,” said Rustagi.
According to SA Tourism figures, South Africa’s biggest growth in tourism numbers comes from Brics countries. Tourist numbers from India almost doubled between 2009 and 2012. Arrivals from India grew by 18.2 percent from 2011 to 2012 alone to 106 774 visitors.
In comparison, Rustagi said growth in the number of South African tourists visiting India was only around 4 percent annually.
The consul-general of India in Durban, Shri VK Sharma, said he was optimistic about the growth of tourist numbers from South Africa to India, especially because of the current low rate.
“There is good potential for growth and that is why we are hosting these roadshows in South Africa’s three major cities. Another exciting development is the recent announcement by the Indian government that it will be relaxing our visa regime with an electronic travel authorisation system which will expand the visa-on-arrival facility in 180 countries. This will, no doubt, boost tourism to India,” he said.
“Ideally we would like to engage SA Tourism to work jointly with India Tourism to facilitate travel on both sides. Growth in tourism will have mutual and spin-off benefits for both countries,” said Sharma.
Rustagi said the Indian government’s announcement of the expansion of its visa-on-arrival facility was “very encouraging news” for the tourism industry. He said the system would enable foreigners to apply for a visa in their home country, recieve an online confirmation within a week and get the visa on arrival in India.
“South Africa will definitely be covered under this more relaxed visa regime. It will facilitate travel to India and, we hope, boost tourist numbers significantly… The overall number of international tourists visiting India has increased from 5.77 million in 2010 to more than 6.5 million,” he said.