South Africa: Wesgro, the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape is making efforts to strengthen the economic relations with China. It met with the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China – You Wenze, this week.
Reportedly, Wesgro focused on unlocking access to new markets and new buyers to realise inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Moreover, it was a positive meeting that highlighted the importance of strengthening the tourism, trade and investment relationship between the Western Cape and China.
As per the sources, China was considered as the third largest export market for the Western Cape in the year 2024. Also, China was the 7th largest source market for FDI into the Western Cape in 2024.
The meeting also discussed about the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme that will improve access for Chinese visitors to South Africa.
Earlier, Wesgro acknowledged the recent announcement by the Department of Home Affairs’ Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS). The scheme will boost tourism from India and China.
TTOS is a platform that will drive increased tourism from the major source markets of India and China by enabling vetted and approved tour operators to submit group applications for large tour groups from these two countries.
The new TTOS platform eliminates challenges by allowing vetted and approved tour operators to submit group applications digitally. Tourists will no longer need to visit a mission, fill out forms, or stand in queues. Instead, the visas will be issued digitally within three days.
This much-awaited digital platform has been introduced as previously, the tourists from these countries faced significant hurdles, bureaucratic delays and the inability to process group applications efficiently.
As per the records, with only two South African missions in China and two in India are serving a combined population of 2.8 billion, as the system was overwhelmed.
This change will put a substantial impact. In 2023, South Africa welcomed only 37,000 tourists from China and 79,000 from India. TTOS aims to significantly boost these numbers by improving visa efficiency and security. It’s main objective is to drive faster growth in tourism from these burgeoning markets.
Minister of Home Affairs – Dr. Leon Schreiber highlighted the importance of this initiative and stated, “The fact that Home Affairs took the TTOS from conceptualisation to implementation in less than six months demonstrates our commitment to digital transformation and our role as an economic enabler to create jobs.”
Schreiber added that research shows every twelve new tourists attracted by TTOS could create one new job in South Africa. it underscores the potential of the digital transformation to drive economic growth.
Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) digital platform marks a major step forward in South Africa’s efforts to position itself as a leading global tourism destination while fostering economic development and job creation.