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To increase travel from China and India, South African Home Affairs establishes the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS)

Gallivant Africa

South African Home Affairs today announces the introduction of an innovative new Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), set to be implemented from January 2025, as a crucial move to overhaul the visa system and position the Department as an economic enabler by supercharging job creation in the tourist sector.

The TTOS will remove some of the major barriers preventing South Africa from becoming a preferred travel destination for the second and fifth largest economies in the world, with an initial focus on the expanding tourism markets of China and India. In 2023, over 100 million Chinese tourists left the country; of these, only 93,000 arrived in South Africa. In contrast, more than 1.4 million tourists from China visited Australia in 2023. Currently, about 3.9% of foreign visitors to South Africa are from India, and just 1.8% are from China.

The Department of Home Affairs has decided to do our part in correcting this extreme economic underperformance by quickly removing barriers to tourism from these two important source-markets in cooperation with the Department of Tourism, the Presidency, and Operation Vulindlela. The Trusted Employer Scheme (TES) has been instrumental in helping vetted and approved businesses attract critical skills. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber saw the benefits firsthand and ordered that the same approach be taken to reduce red tape and boost efficiency for visitors from non-visa exempt nations such as China and India.

Supplied: City of Cape Town

Tour operators from these nations who have been vetted and approved will be asked to register with the Department through TTOS. For the first time, the Department will handle group applications from Chinese and Indian visitors traveling with recognized operators in exchange for undertaking extensive screening up front and taking accountability for the travelers in their groups. Applications for tourist visas submitted through TTOS will be handled by a committed and knowledgeable panel of adjudicators to guarantee prompt and dependable processing. Additionally, these applications will gain from the elimination of onerous red tape that presently stifles South Africa’s tourism potential.

“I am particularly pleased that we can make this announcement during the President’s state visit to China, as it sends a powerful message that the Government of National Unity is serious about unlocking our country’s vast tourism and economic potential,” said Minister Schreiber. “Research indicates that boosting tourism by only 10% per year can boost annual economic growth by 0.6% and create tens of thousands of new jobs for South Africans. Travelling in large groups is the preferred option for many tourists from some countries and it is time for our visa system to adapt in order to reflect and capitalise on this reality.”

Minister Schreiber added: “This is only the start of Home Affairs’ embrace of our role as an economic enabler. Exciting as it is, TTOS is itself but an interim measure to boost tourism while we move with speed to digitally transform Home Affairs. Ultimately, our vision is for a fully automated process that delivers secure tourist visa outcomes digitally and within seconds to tourists from around the world.”

The regulations for the TTOS will be published shortly, as well as information on how tour operators can apply with the Department of Home Affairs ahead of the scheme’s rollout in January 2025.

 

Gallivant Africa
Gallivant Africa
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