South African Tourism on Friday said it is expecting a 72 per cent growth in travellers from India in 2023 compared to last year's target, following robust recovery in the tourism sector.
The Rainbow nation received nearly 50,000 Indian visitors till November 2022, exceeding its target of over 33,900 visitors set at the beginning of 2022, South African Tourism said in a statement. This year, the South African Tourism expects a 72 per cent increase in footfalls from India. In 2019, 96,000 Indian travellers had visited South Africa. India has moved up to become the sixth largest international source market for South Africa from last year's eighth place, it said. The biggest driver for the strong recovery is mainly the relaxation in travel norms post the pandemic. In addition, South African Tourism is eyeing a 35 per cent increase in Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) travellers this year.
"The Rainbow country is aiming to build on the leisure travel momentum and increase MICE footfalls by 35 per cent in 2023," it added. "With our evolved brand strategy and customised engagement models, we have managed to stay on top-of-mind of the consumers. "We are already witnessing an uptick in forward bookings for the year, especially from groups of more than six and we intend to keep driving this momentum," South African Tourism Hub Head - Middle East, India and South East Asia Neliswa Nkani said.
At present, several stop-over flights fly from India to South Africa, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways and Air Seychelles. South African Tourism is the tourism marketing arm of the South African government.
