South Africa: Wesgro acknowledges the recent announcement by the Department of Home Affairs’ Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS). The scheme will welcome the boost in tourism from India and China.
Reportedly, sixty-five Trusted Tour Operators were selected to streamline visa application processes for group travellers from India and China. This initiative will mark a crucial first step in facilitating exponential growth from the two key source markets for the destination.
South Africa welcomed 93,370 Chinese tourists with 55,816 people who visited the Western Cape, before the pandemic in 2019. In the same year, India accounted for 95,621 arrivals nationally and 50,157 visitors in the Western Cape.
Streamlined visa processing and expanded air connectivity with high-growth markets such as China and India are pivotal steps that are helping in unlocking the tourism potential for the region.
Considering this, Department of Home Affairs has selected the participants for TTOS to boost the tourism and create more jobs.
The department proudly announced the successful conclusion of the selection process for the first set of participating companies in the ground-breaking TTOS, whose objective is to boost tourism arrivals from China and India.
It was a joint process that involved various ministries such as; the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Tourism and the State Security Agency with a total of 65 tour operators from South Africa, China and India which were selected out of 141 applicants, who enrolled in the programme, after a thorough inter-departmental vetting and screening process.
As a part of Home Affairs’, it is an ongoing journey of digital transformation, where all applications of TTOS were received through a dedicated online portal. The screening process for the same has used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure that the applicants meet the qualifying criteria of having operational experience of at least 12 months, as well as a track record of legal compliance and cross-country collaboration.

Out of these 65 selected tour companies, many are the major industry operators which are described as:
- Thomas Cook India
It is a well-established name in the travel industry that provides various travel-related services involving tours, travel insurance and more. - China International Travel Service
The major state-owned travel agency in China is on number second that offers a wide range of travel services and operates internationally, which makes it one of the largest travel operators in the country. - MakeMyTrip India
On third place is India’s leading online travel company that offers a wide range of travel services including fight bookings, hotel reservations and holiday packages. - Shanghai Ctrip International Travel Service
A major player in travel services in China that provides comprehensive travel solutions. - SOTC Travel
India’s well-known travel company that offers a variety of travel packages and includes group tours, customized trips and honeymoons. - Kesari Tours
Another prominent travel operator in India that specialises in group tours and offers a wide range of itineraries, both domestically and internationally. - Beijing Caissa Sunho International Travel Service
A reputable travel agency in China, providing comprehensive travel services and packages for domestic and international trips and travel.
Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) was able to attract high-profile participants within the span of few short months, with amounts of granting significant vote of confidence in the programme, and demonstrating the appetite for international tourists to visit beautiful South Africa.
It is a kind of interest that bodes well for the repositioning of Home Affairs, enabling funds to create economic growth and jobs. It is significantly boosting arrival of the tourists from the burgeoning source markets of China and India.
TTOS was conceptualised by the Minister of Home Affairs – Dr. Leon Schreiber in response to the fact that South Africa has substantially underperforms in attracting tourism spending from China and India.
At this moment, Indian tourists account for only 3.9% of all international visitors to South Africa and Chinese tourists for only 1.8%. Chinese travellers have made more than 100 million outbound trips in 2023 with South Africa receiving only 93,000 of these arrivals. In comparison to a country like Australia, that attracted over 1.4 million visitors from China in 2023.
Furthermore, the main aim of TTOS is to leverage the same model of collaboration and risk-sharing considered by Home Affairs’ trusted Employer Scheme (TES), which has already, securely boosted the flow of high-end skills into large companies.
However, the tour operators participating in TTOS are also involved in the process of signing agreements with Home Affairs that will hold the companies liable for any mis-representation or transgressions committed by their customers.
Well, in exchange for taking on the risk, companies that are affiliated with TTOS will receive benefits from the reduced red tape, while overcoming the language barriers as well as faster turnaround times when applying for visitors’ visas for their clients.
Notably, the Department in the final phase of preparatory work, will turn its attention to ensure that participating tour operators are seeking to bring Chinese and Indian tourists to South Africa, as they are conveniently submitting visa applications through a secure and reliable platform.
Once this technical work is concluded, the Home Affairs Ministry will look forward to welcome the first large groups of Chinese and Indian tourists to the shores, who were previously deterred by visa red tape from spending their valuable foreign currency in South Africa.