60% of Indian visitors to South Africa are from Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Out of the 79,000 Indians who travelled to South Africa in 2023, nearly 60% were from Bengaluru, according to the South African Tourism office. Further, more than half the Bengalureans who visited the ‘Rainbow Nation’ did so for business purposes.

The country’s tourism office was in Bengaluru as part of a five-day roadshow in India that aimed at interacting and partnering with travel businesses for promoting tourism in South Africa. According to the tourism data, 45% of Indian travellers were leisure seekers while 46% were MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) travellers. Business emerged as the most dominant purpose for travel to South Africa.

“Indians play a major role in the information technology and pharmaceutical industries in South Africa. Even automotive, education, agriculture and mineral sectors are big markets for Indian businesspeople coming to South Africa,” said Neliswa Nkani, the hub head (Middle East, India and Southeast Asia) of South African Tourism.

For those travelling for leisure, the office said a trip of 7-10 days is essential to experience the country, with a budget stretching up to Rs 2 lakh for a couple (excluding airfare).

Boosting tourism & trade

“India is currently one of the fastest growing outbound markets, outpacing many countries around the world. Interestingly, amongst inbound travellers from Bengaluru, 53% visited the Rainbow Nation for business purposes. To further propel this momentum, the tourism board will continue with its efforts to improve accessibility and encourage dialogue aimed at establishing direct routes to boost tourism and trade between the two nations,” Nkani said.

At the Bengaluru chapter of the roadshow, which took place at a city hotel, more than 350 travel trade partners had assembled to connect and network with South African agencies, hospitality players, adventure companies and so on. The South African Tourism office claimed it had over 2,700 meetings at the Bengaluru chapter, helping get 12,870 passenger leads and a total business value of $12.8 million.