SOUTH AFRICA: Indians Interested In South African Tourism

'Despite demonetisation, the Indian market has shown good numbers for South Africa during 2016 as it had a growth of 27 per cent in arrivals that clocked 81,429 by the end of third quarter,' said county manager, South African Tourism- India, Hanneli Slabber.

The average time spent by Indian tourists in South Africa is 11 days and business travellers is 19 days.

Slabber said that Chennaiites have a thing for adventures, so there had been a marked shift from seeing to experiencing. The South African tourism department has customised adventure sports for shorter durations, keeping in mind that the Indian tourists want to experience sports like bridge bungee and skydiving in the very little time they have in hands.

'Also, South Africa is becoming an emerging destination for big fat Indian weddings,' said Slabber. 'The smallest wedding of a Chennai vaasi in South Africa comprised of 60 people while the largest had 550,' she added. It is learnt that most of the inhabitants of Chennai are preferring Cape Town for their destination wedding.

Another change made by South African tourism to invite Indian travellers is providing vegetarian food. 'Lot of veggie tourists from India had been complaining lately, so we made this change,' said Slabber.

Chief Quality Assurance Officer Darryl Erasmus said that the hotels across the country have been given star ratings from one to five. While the comfort level changes, safety level remains the same in all the hotels.

Also, the South African Tourism Department said they hope to cash in on cricket connect. According to them, lots of Indians fly to SA when there's a cricket match. Adding to that, Hanneli says that Indians also seem to be interested in golf courses which are abundant in the country.

With 80,000 Indian nationals visiting South Africa each year, the number is expected to grow henceforth.

SOTH AFRICA: South African Tourism Rose In 2016

South African tourism has improved tremendously over the last year with a 26.6 percent increase in tourism revenue as it becomes attractive for European travelers looking for high tides and sunny escapes from an otherwise wintery home. The sunny weather has not only become appealing for European tourists but also for Indians wanting to experience everything South African tourism has to offer.

Citing Country Manager for India's South African Tourism Hanneli Slabber, a four-city road show showcasing South African tourism in key Indian cities namely Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Kolkata in January 2016 has become "encouraging" and "insightful" as the feedback allowed the South African Tourism Board and its partners to "streamline our offerings and consumer engagement." He added that the goal of the program was to bring in more tourists from India and have them stay longer.

According to the news website, India has the eighth largest number of tourists visiting the country with about 73,902 arriving in the country by the end of third quarter 2016. Official data from South African Tourism Board shows South Africans enjoy their local tourism with a figure of 570,944, followed by Europe with a total of visitors from Austria, Greece, Switzerland and others with 105,035.

According to African news network Sowetani Live, many Europeans are attracted to the sunny and warm climate of African states because of its "wide array of outdoor attractions" such as beaches, skydiving and water sports. The news website highlighted that climate change -- namely global warming -- could deteriorate Africa's lucrative tourism boom and said the changes are possibly inevitable.

Hotels in South African states such as Zimbabwe have increased in tourist occupancies by 80 percent from 60 percent but hotel occupancies in renowned luxury sites including Victoria Falls and Kariba only stood at 85-90%. According to local Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality analysis, the occupancies have declined due to the limited disposable income of domestic tourists who are currently dominating the local tourism market of Zimbabwe.