Cape Town holds talks with Air India for direct flights from the city. The direct flights might connect Indian cities soon with the Mother City that will include Bengaluru. As a delegation, the South African legislative capital explores a collaboration with Air India owned by Tata Group to boost tourism, trade and business partnerships.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Growth and Tourism – Alderman James Vos addressed the press in a closed-door interaction and stated that the delegation will engage with the airline in Mumbai to attract new investors and tourists. However, Mumbai and New Delhi are considered as potential locations for direct connections of flight to Cape Town.
For next two days, the delegation will meet the tour operators to promote their Trusted Tour Operators’ Scheme in India, that will enable tourists to apply for visas through registered operators. Earlier, the delegations also met with the IT-BT Minister of Karnataka – Priyank Kharge to discuss about marine manufacturing and technology holding potential collaborations in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), along with financial services and tourism.
Furthermore, Minister Kharge proposed the Global Innovation Programme considering Cape Town as Bengaluru’s partner and praised the Bengaluru based company ‘MoveInSync’ for its office commute solutions, which are being implemented in Cape Town.
The delegation also visited several Global Capability Centres (GCCs)and the tech parks in Bengaluru to explore business opportunities. They noted further that India ‘particularly Bengaluru’, is a strategic choice to tap into the tech ecosystem and the GCC presence in the city to adopt growth strategies for Cape Town.
“Dynamic BPO and Tech Industries of India complement the strengths of Cape Town, and by joining forces, we can unlock investments, create jobs and enhance trade and tourism between our regions,” said James Vos.
He also stated that the delegation is exploring a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) between the two governments. According to him, the energy, innovation and business opportunities in this city are remarkable and it is clear that there is strong interest in strengthening the ties.
Alderman James Vos highlighted that the Cape Town government is looking forward to various cities for a smart city approach for safety and mobility solutions. This includes investments in drone and CCTV surveillance, renewable energy generation and an integrated transport system.