The expansion of initiatives such as the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) is reliant on the successful automation of South Africa’s visa system, says home affairs minister Leon Schreiber.
Following the arrival of the first group of Chinese tourists under the scheme's visa system last Saturday, 10 days after the digital platform went live, Schreiber said a similar model could be adopted for other visas.
He was speaking at the 19th annual Meetings Africa summit at the Sandton Convention Centre this week. The three-day annual trade show attracts delegates, exhibitors, and industry leaders from around the world, providing them with a platform to showcase their offerings to international and local buyers.
We want every prospective tourist who wants to visit South Africa to be able to sit at home and apply online
— Leon Schreiber, home affairs minister
“We cannot go forward with a country that has paper-based visas. We have now started with the lowest-hanging fruit that will yield, I believe, the biggest immediate impact. Essentially, we want every prospective tourist who wants to visit South Africa to be able to sit at home and apply online,” said Schreiber.
The TTOS is a digital platform that allows accredited tour operators to apply for visas for large groups of tourists from China and India. It's part of South Africa's efforts to attract more tourists from growing markets in Asia by simplifying the visa application process.
It's also a response to the 300,000 visa application backlog the department now says it has mostly cleared.
South Africa received more than 41,000 arrivals from India and 79,700 from China in 2024, according to the department of tourism. But this is a tiny fraction of the potential as the two countries account for 100-million global tourists annually.
Schreiber said once the visa system was fully digital it would be easier for travellers from long-haul destinations and other African countries to have access to the country.
“We will then be able to issue the same service we're issuing under TTOS right now, but across the board, for tourism visas, regardless of where you come from, regardless of how many applications there are. That is the holy grail that we're working towards,” he said.
Tourism minister Patricia de Lille said the TTOS would boost the tourism and business events sectors and pave the way to full implementation on all visa applications.
“Through targeted outreach engagements in India and China we have also been sharing the developments of the TTOS, the electronic travel authorisation and digital nomad visas with these two key source markets to ensure that more tour operators register and use these new and enhanced visa processes.”
Meanwhile, South African Tourism’s efforts to market the country in Australia and New Zealand have yielded results, leading to a 14,3% increase in the number of Australians who visited in 2024 compared to the previous year.
This was part of the Mega Lekker Escape activation in 2023, which brought 100 travel agents from the two countries to experience South Africa.
According to the tourism agency's COO Darryl Erasmus, 90% of agents who participated in the experience in 2023 booked trips to South Africa within a year.
They are hosting another group of travel agents this year. Erasmus said such engagements played a crucial role in ensuring that South Africa positioned itself as a key destination while debunking misconceptions about the country.
“We understand the importance of partnering with trade, and we understand the importance of trading the trade. We're always going to invest in that distribution channel, in whichever market you choose to invest in, not just Australia, China and India.”
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