South Africa is getting ready to welcome many more tourists from India and China, as the Department of Home Affairs has officially launched its Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), which is set to significantly ease the visa process for travellers from these two countries.
The Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber says before this scheme, travellers who intended to travel in groups had to travel to a local South African mission in India or China and deal with reams of paperwork and queues – a process so cumbersome that they would miss their flights!
Schreiber says the problem is that there are only two missions each in India and China that would cater for over 2.8 billion people that live there!
He says vetted tour operators will now be able to immediately submit group visa applications online, with a guaranteed response to their application in just three days.
“This will boost tourism from the major source markets or China and India. For every 12 new tourists, one new jobs is created. And nothing on earth delivers dignity, like a job!”
Bright and early tomorrow morning, our brand new digital portal for the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme goes live. This will boost tourism from the major source markets or China and India. For every 12 new tourists, one new jobs is created. And nothing on earth delivers dignity,… pic.twitter.com/O8wwxrbXwU
— Leon Schreiber (@Leon_Schreib) February 11, 2025
The Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille has congratulated the Department of Home Affairs for the significant progress made on the visa regime in recent months.
De Lille says together with the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, progress has also been made with Electronic Travel Authorisation and the Digital Nomad Visas.
“We have been working hard with the tourism sector in South Africa, China and India to resolve the visa obstacles and the recent work by the Department of Home Affairs is to be commended. The Department of Tourism will use the visa enablers – the Electronic Travel Authorisation, the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme and the Digital Nomad Visas to grow tourism in South Africa, targeting key source markets – India and China.”
De Lille says these enhancements will lead to an increase in arrivals in South Africa, which in turn will assist the government in achieving its goal to create more jobs and drive inclusive economic growth.
Ahead of today’s launch, Schreiber and de Lille on Monday addressed the first group of 65 successful tour operators from South Africa, China and India who were accepted in the first phase of the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme.
“These are two massive key source markets for South Africa that can contribute to our goal to increase arrivals exponentially. A seamless visa regime is a key to growing arrivals and we have been working well with Home Affairs in this regard and will continue to work with them to make further improvements.”
The tourism sector has seen a steady rebound over the past two years with close to 9 million arrivals to South Africa in 2024, up by 5.1% compared to 2023.
Before TTOS for group travel from China and India, tourists had to travel to a mission, confront paperwork and queues, and sometimes wait so long for outcomes they missed their flights.
From today, this is the new world #TeamHomeAffairs built – and we’re never going back!
pic.twitter.com/deNsGStntZ
— Leon Schreiber (@Leon_Schreib) February 12, 2025
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