South African Tourism Aims to Cross 100,000 Visitors from Across Indian Cities in 2020

Highlights

* Unveils evolved brand strategy for 2020~
* Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore continue to be top markets contributing footfalls for South African Tourism~
* Average length of stay saw a YoY increase of 8% in the first half of 2019~
* 1 in 4 Indian arrivals in 2019 were for MICE~
* Pune continues to be one of the fastest emerging source markets for South African Tourism in India~

South African Tourism ushered in the new year with its biggest travel trade initiative in India – the 17th edition of their Annual Roadshow. The roadshow intends to capitalize on the strong potential consumer demand in India in order to surpass the target of 100,000 Indian visitors to South Africa in the current year.

Recognizing the evolving demands of the Indian traveller and in continued efforts to enable trade partners, the 48-member South African trade delegation reiterated the tourism board’s emphasis on expanding the destination and product offering. In addition to experiences, representatives from accommodation establishments, destination management companies, airlines, tourism associations display their products and engage Indian travel and trade partners.

With heavy emphasis on boosting the local economy, the 2020 Roadshow saw the inclusion of 13 new SMMEs, which is double the number that participated in 2019. In addition to creating local job opportunities, the tourism board’s close association with SMMEs allows the introduction of unique products and thus, newer customizable Indian itineraries.

“India continues to remain one of our key focus markets globally and it is encouraging to observe consistent, upward growth from traditional regions like Mumbai, Delhi & Bangalore as well as rising visitor traffic from emerging cities like Pune. With more and more visitors citing South Africa’s scenic natural beauty as reasons to visit, we are focused in our efforts towards opening up newer geographies in our country. This will serve a dual objective of catering to this very consumer demand as well as offering a diversity of itinerary options for our trade partners to sell,” said Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head, MEISEA, South African Tourism.

Bangalore maintained its position as one of the leading source markets for South African Tourism in India. Between January to June 2019, around 6.5% of total Indian visitors to the Rainbow Nation were from Bangalore. 63% visitors from Bangalore travelled solo, while 10% travelled with their partners. According to market research conducted by the tourism board, travellers from Bangalore make the trip to South Africa to soak in scenic beauty (52%), engage with warm locals (24%), and explore wildlife offerings (56%) while also immersing themselves and making the best of the diversity of experiences (30%) offered by the Rainbow Nation. MICE travel (39%) is the primary reason for visitors from Bangalore to travel to the destination. Business travel (20%), leisure travel (18%) and VFR (6%) closely follow suit. The summer and winter holiday periods of April, May and December emerged as preferred travel months amongst Bangaloreans for their South Africa trips.

Sharing further insights, Ms. Nkani stated, “While South Africa has traditionally been perceived as a multi-generation, family destination, it is heartening to see the substantial share of solo travellers in the overall Indian traveller pie. Our evolved brand strategy will help us drive South Africa’s value proposition across stakeholders while creating customized engagement models showcasing destination product offerings to suit the unique requirements from each of our target regions within India.”

With 81,316 Indian arrivals as of October 2019, the destination board shared a positive outlook for the Indian market, noting that as of September 2019, total spends by Indian travellers in South Africa had reached a 4-year high. Average length of stay witnessed a year on year increase of 8% in the first half of 2019.

This year the Roadshow covered Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune paving way for interaction to allow an exchange of detailed market insights and Indian traveller specific trends, thus allowing both partners to deliver and serve better.