South African Tourism began the year 2019 with its biggest travel trade initiative in India – the 16^th edition of their Annual Roadshow. The roadshow intends to capitalize on the strong potential consumer demand in India in order to surpass the target of 100,000 Indian visitors to South Africa in the current year.

For the period of January to September 2018, Mumbai contributed 45% to the overall Indian arrivals to South Africa while Delhi was at 17.4%, Chennai at 7.7% and Kolkata at 1.6%.

Indian travelers prefer South Africa as a holiday destination, due to the memorability and value for money it offers, said Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head, MEISEA, South African Tourism. The average stay of Indian traveler in the country is twenty five days.

With iconic cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban as draw cards, the tourism board is growing efforts to promote the engaging surrounds of newer regions like Stellenbosch, George, Simon’s Town, Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth and East London in the current year. In 2018, there was a higher uptake in the demand for and travel to new and off-beat provinces like Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Free State.

With Indian travellers consuming the highest adventure activities outside of South Africans, the board will deepen focus to promote the 3000+ adventure activities that South Africa offers including off-beat activities like Long Tom Toboggan rides, Fatbike Tours, Mountain Boarding and Walking Safaris along with popular activities like abseiling and paragliding.

Along with building, cementing and sustaining two-way tourism ties between India and South Africa, the brand is also seeking new and creative ways to enhance the destination’s USP.

While consolidating its position in wildlife, adventure and cultural offerings, the destination will also target the niche wedding market, for which South African Tourism has seen an upswing in enquiries. In order to arrive at this, the destination is engaging aggressively to educate trade partners about the plethora of world-class facilities, distinctive attractions, unforgettable and value for money experiences available in South Africa.

This year the Roadshow covered Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata paving way for interaction to allow an exchange of detailed market insights and Indian traveller specific trends, thus allowing both partners to deliver and serve better.