South Africa Expects 15% Rise In Indian Tourists This Year

10 Jul 2013

Going full steam on campaigning in India, the South African Tourism is expecting at least 15 per cent more Indian tourist footfall into their country during 2013.

Hanneli Slabber, country head, South African Tourism, further added that "While the rupee has weakened vis-a-vis the dollar, it has actually strengthened vis-a-vis the South African Rand. The rand is around Rs 5.9 now, it was above Rs 6.5 last year. This means Indian travelers would have more dispensable cash when visiting South Africa."

Around 106,000 Indians visited South Africa during 2012, up 17 per cent from 90,000 in 2011.

It is still a very small portion of the overall in-bound traffic to the country, which is around 10 million.

"UK contributes the most in arrivals, around half a million, while Germany and the US contribute around quarter million footfalls each into South Africa every year," Slabber said.

Indian tourist footfall has increased significantly in the recent years, from around 48,000 in 2008, there has been a steady growth in tourist arrivals.

Around 12 per cent of the leisure tourists go for casinos in South Africa, while the majority (around 70 per cent) opt for wildlife safaris. Around 7 per cent of the Indian tourists are from Gujarat, informed Slabber, adding that they have also recently started offering vegetarian and Jain cuisine to woo Gujarati travelers.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/technology