The South African tourism sector welcomed a significant milestone on Wednesday with the launch of the Department of Home Affairs’ Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS).

This new digital platform is poised to reshape the landscape of tourism by expediting visa processing for large groups from India and China, effectively addressing one of the industry’s challenges of long queues and bureaucratic delays.

Prior to the TTOS, South Africa had only four diplomatic missions to cater to a staggering 2.8 billion potential tourists from China and India.

Minister Leon Schreiber announced that Home Affairs’ rapid implementation of the TTOS system, completed in under six months, demonstrates their commitment to digital transformation and job creation.

“Research has shown that for every 12 new tourists attracted by TTOS, we can create one new job in South Africa. This demonstrates the power of Home Affairs’ digital transformation agenda to create jobs,” he said.

Schreiber thanked the in-house developers, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshaveni, and Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille, for their support in rapidly rolling out the new system.

Last month, the Department of Tourism said the latest international arrivals data from Statistics South Africa confirmed that the African continent remains South Africa’s largest source of tourists, with 6.8 million tourist arrivals in 2024, making up 76% of total arrivals.

Ghana, which no longer needs visas to travel to SA, recorded a 149.0% increase from 2023, reaching 36 656 arrivals in 2024, largely driven by the availability of airlift and the introduction of a visa waiver in November 2023.

The minister said the visa-free travel agreement has played a pivotal role in attracting tourists, allowing travel for up to 90 days without a visa for business or tourism purposes.

The stats revealed that while China saw an 11.4% increase, totalling 41 651 arrivals, driven by targeted promotions and increasing flight connectivity. India recorded 75 541 arrivals, a 5.3% decline, primarily due to visa processing backlogs and the absence of direct flights.

De Lille commended the Department of Home Affairs for the progress made on the visa regime on behalf of the Department of Tourism.

“We have been working hard with the tourism sector in South Africa, China, and India to resolve the visa obstacles, and the recent work by the Department of Home Affairs is to be commended.

“The Department of Tourism will use the visa enablers – the Electronic Travel Authorisation, the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, and the Digital Nomad Visas to grow tourism in South Africa, targeting these key source markets,” said the minister.

De Lille said these two massive key source markets for South Africa can contribute to the goal of increasing arrivals exponentially.

She said a seamless visa regime is key to growing arrivals, and they have been working well with Home Affairs in this regard and will continue to work with them to make further improvements.

The department said the first group of 65 successful tour operators from South Africa, China, and India, who were accepted in the first phase of the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, will be able to start making visa applications for individuals and groups from Wednesday.

Bunny Bhoola, KZN chair of the Southern African Tourism Services (Sats), said this is a progressive step from the Department of Home Affairs, and the Department of Tourism is very exciting.

“This initiative will position South Africa as a destination of choice as this enables seamless travel for the tourists. As trade, we welcome this partnership with the government to increase arrivals to South Africa,” she said.

Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) national chairperson, Rosemary Anderson, said Fedhasa is impressed and encouraged by the speed and efficiency with which the Department of Home Affairs is implementing the TTOS.

Anderson said the TTOS should dramatically reduce red tape and turnaround times to as little as three days for the Indian and Chinese markets.

“It’s an exciting time for South Africa, and we applaud the collaboration between the departments of Home Affairs and Tourism as they work together to address and remove barriers to tourism growth. Next up: we’re looking forward to the implementation of an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) which will speed up processing times for all tourist visas,” she said.

The hospitality industry stands ready to welcome the increased number of international visitors that these initiatives will bring, she said.

karen.singh@inl.co.za