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South Africa is all set to offer a Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) to Indian tourists for a simplified entry process.
If you are willing to travel to South Africa and witness its natural beauty and cultural diversity, then there’s some good news for you. South Africa is now all set to launch a new Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), starting in January 2025, and now Indians will have an easier time travelling to the nation. With the latest move, the country is looking forward to enhancing the country's appeal to tourists, both from India and China. The upcoming scheme will bring a major change to the visa process for tourists, and in fact, lead to more job creation in the tourism sector.
According to the Home Affairs Department, the TTOS is aimed to remove any issues that prevented South Africa from becoming a major tourist destination for Indian and Chinese tourists. It cannot be missed that China and India are the world's second and fifth largest economies, but Indians, currently, are only 3.9% of all international visitors to South Africa. Hence, the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Tourism, the Presidency, and Operation Vulindlela, wants to now address the "unacceptable economic underperformance" and make South Africa a tourist hub for these markets.
The Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) has come after the success of the Trusted Employer Scheme (TES). The TES made visa processing easier for businesses looking to attract critical skills. Since it worked well, the Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber wanted to have a similar approach to improve the idea of tourism for non-visa-exempt countries like India and China.
As part of TTOS, approved tour operators from India and China will be asked to register with the Department after undergoing thorough screening, and they will be the ones who would take responsibility for travellers in their groups. The Department, on the other hand, will approve group visa applications for these tourists under the selected tour operators.
Meanwhile, the department would appoint a dedicated team of adjudicators to handle and process the visa applications, and remove any obstacles that hampered South Africa's potential as a key tourist destination.
In the case of India, South Africa is looking to increase the number of Indian visitors from 16,000 to 100,000 by the end of 2024. Since Indian tourists only contribute to 3% of South Africa’s international visitors, the officials now want to grow the numbers by making it easier for Indian tourists to get visas, and pick South Africa as their travel destination.
Along with TTOS, South Africa is also keen to launch a 90-day visa waiver for Indian and Chinese tourists, and offering them a visa-free visit for up to three months.
