Home Affairs announces Trusted Tour Operator Scheme to boost tourism from China and India

(Media Release: Issued and provided by the Department of Home Affairs)

In a critical step to reform the visa system and position the Department as an economic enabler by supercharging job creation in the tourism sector, Home Affairs today announces the creation of an innovative new Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), set to be implemented from January 2025.

With an initial focus on the burgeoning tourist markets of China and India, the TTOS will remove some of the key obstacles standing in the way of South Africa becoming a favoured tourism destination for the second and fifth largest economies in the world.

Chinese tourists made over 100 million outbound trips in 2023, with South Africa receiving a miniscule 93,000 of these arrivals. In comparison, a country like Australia attracted over 1.4 million visitors from China in 2023. At the moment, Indian tourists account for only 3.9% of all international visitors to South Africa – and China for only 1.8%.

In collaboration with the Department of Tourism, as well as the Presidency and Operation Vulindlela, the Department of Home Affairs has resolved to play our role in rectifying this unacceptable economic underperformance by urgently clearing obstacles to tourism from these two major source-markets.

Read the full press release here.