PRETORIA, July 11 (NNN-SANEWS) — Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane says South Africa will look at creating an air transport link to India in a push to claim a bigger share of tourist arrivals from that region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Participating in a debate on the department\u2019s budget vote in Parliament on Wednesday, Kubayi-Ngubane announced interventions aimed at bolstering tourist arrivals from Nigeria and China, countries that, according to Statistics South Africa, attracted 53,000 and 96,000 tourists in 2018 respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minister said South Africa\u2019s current share of these large outbound markets was low and that the department\u2019s efforts would bolster international arrivals to South Africa from China to over 9% of SA\u2019s total international tourist composition. She also eyed increasing tourist arrivals from India by over 7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo achieve this, we will position South Africa as a China and India friendly tourism destination through relevant content-reviewed platforms and a comprehensive China and India readiness programme, developed in close partnership with the private sector. We plan to use technological platforms such as WeChat and Alipay for ease of access to the Chinese market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEstablishing an air transport link between South Africa and India will receive our utmost attention. We will be engaging with various airlines to explore this possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2018, South Africa recorded a total arrivals figure of 7.8 million from within the African continent, which represents the largest percentage of international arrivals to South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The department will create and share first-hand information to promote South Africa so that it becomes a destination of choice for the African continent and the diaspora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInitiatives will include partnering with online travel agencies, targeting the \u2018leisure\u2019 market, partnerships with South African product owners to drive affordable family packages and delegate boosting at exhibitions, association meetings and business chambers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kubayi-Ngubane said the European market remains an important market for SA\u2019s tourism sector. She said visitors from Europe can easily get Visas that allow them to stay for 90 days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe closeness of the time zone between South and European countries and our pleasant weather positions South Africa as a preferred destination for both business and leisure tourism for many Europeans. As for Americans, we have seen growth in the number of visitors and we expect the growth trend to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The department will work tirelessly to remove all obstacles that may stand in the way of tourists who want to enjoy their journey to South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn this regard, we are happy to report that recent visa waiver for Russia and Angola had a positive impact on the number of international travellers who graced our shores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are also encouraged by the announcement made by the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aron Motsoaledi, that South Africa\u2019s new e-visa system is expected to launch within this financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese demonstrates that close collaboration between the two departments can lead to a positive economic impact, which augurs well with the priority of the sixth administration of working together to grow our economy,\u201d she said. — NNN-SAnews<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PRETORIA, July 11 (NNN-SANEWS) — Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane says South Africa will look at creating an air transport link to India in a push to claim a bigger share of tourist arrivals from that region. Participating in a debate on the department\u2019s budget vote in Parliament on Wednesday, Kubayi-Ngubane announced interventions aimed at bolstering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,215],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32383"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}