Bengaluru: "South Africa offers ample opportunities for travel business as it allows the experience of seven different countries at once," said Ms Maropene Ramokgopa, South African Consul General, during an interactive session organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Tuesday.
She said that they are ready to do business and partner with organisations from India. "We are also thinking of giving responsibilities to certain travel agencies to ease the visa process," she said.
There are many unexplored destinations like Port Elizabeth, North Cape Town, Green Desert, Kosi Bay and many more. Stressing on the scope for culture tourism, she pointed out that her county has one of the world's best golf courses.
Mr Kishore Alva, president, BCIC, said, "India's links with South Africa go back to the days of our freedom struggle and Mahatma Gandhi started his Satyagraha movement in South Africa. India was the first country to establish its relations with South Africa when the apartheid embargo was lifted."
Last year, around 1 lakh tourists from India travelled to South Africa, while half that number travelled here from that country, she said.
The number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India has shown a steady increase in the last three years, but in Karnataka, it has been mixed. A total of 5, 61,870 tourists visited Karnataka in 2014, while it dropped to 4, 61,752 in 2016.
Mr Vineet Verma, Chairman, Tourism Expert Committee, BCIC, said, "Tourism goes through ups and downs, it will pick up eventually. A lot of last-mile connectivity has to be resolved in India; our taxation and room rates are relatively high compared to other countries."
