• Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber has Gazetted the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme.
• The scheme would make it easier for tour operators in India and China to receive approval and documentation for large groups.
• Home Affairs hopes to welcome the first visitor using the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme by January 2025.

In 2023, 1.4 million Chinese tourists descended on Australia and Home Affairs wants to change that by making it easier for tourists from both China and India to visit South Africa.

Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, has Gazetted the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme after two months of graft. The scheme, as explained by the department, would help alleviate the red tape tour operators face when planning excursions to the country.

This includes challenges faced with processing group visa applications, capacity constraints at foreign missions, and language barriers. Tour operators would need to go through an approval process but, once approved, they’d see enhanced turnaround times on visa applications for large tour groups.

It sounds like a good idea but local and international tour operators would need to express their views on the matter before it moves forward but Home Affairs has a tight deadline for itself here.

“The call for expression of interest will be open for a period of 30 days, whereafter Home Affairs will, in collaboration with other departments, assess and security vet applications with the aim of enrolling a first group of tour operators. Our target remains to welcome the first tourists brought to South Africa through TTOS (Trusted Tour Operator Scheme) in January 2025. Home Affairs will consider further intakes for the scheme in future, depending on internal capacity and the success of the rollout,” the department said in a statement.

In order to get access to this expedited approval, tour operators would need to adhere to the local regulatory requirements in the tourism sector, show that it has relevant experience in facilitating tour groups, and that it has sufficient insurance to cover all the travellers to South Africa, including the provision of continuous support and aftercare services should it be required.

The department is fielding submissions on a dedicated website here. Tour operators have until the end of November to express their interest.

Home Affairs says that a 10 percent increase in tourism can result in 0.6 percent economic growth and, at this point, South Africa needs all the growth it can muster.

“The introduction of TTOS is part of the significant interim reforms we are putting in place to enhance the efficiency of Home Affairs while we work towards our five-year vision of delivering Home Affairs @ home through digital transformation. I am confident that this scheme will make an immediate contribution towards growing tourism and job creation, and I look forward to welcoming the first tour groups facilitated through TTOS as early as January 2025,” said Schreiber.

[Image – Danièle Konsbruck from Pixabay]