Johannesburg:
The diplomats from South Africa, an Indian company, are welcoming President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement to reform the country's visa system.
In his national address at Cape Town City Hall, Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday said South Africa is hoping to expand tourism and business from India and China following the digitalization of the country's visa system.
“As part of our reform agenda, we will continue to strengthen our visa system to make it easier for skilled people to invest in our country and grow tourism in South Africa,” Cyril Ramaphosa said. I did.
“This year we will launch an electronic travel approval system that enables a safe and complete digital visa application process. The system uses artificial intelligence and automation to reduce the scope of corruption and speed up tourist visas. Allows turnaround time.
“We have cleared over 90% of our backlog of over 300,000 visa applications,” Ramaphosa said.
The president said the proposed changes “sends a strong message that South Africa is open for business and tourism.”
Indian companies have long lamented the issuance of visas, with some companies threatening to distract investments elsewhere in Africa.
“We had challenges with both visas and direct flights, and we found that the governments of India and South Africa are solving these issues as quickly as possible, creating opportunities and ease for people to engage conveniently.
“This is happening and keeping a lot of satisfaction and happiness in mind that the highest level of South African government is making a lot of effort to contribute in this regard,” said Mahesh, India's Consul General of India in Johannesburg. Kumar said.
“This will be very encouraging and will essentially contribute to bringing the two societies closer and allowing them to work closer together in business and tourism,” Kumar added.
Ashish Sharma, CEO of 24 by 7 Travel, a travel-specific company between India and South Africa, said that the new visa system will push tourist numbers into South Africa as well as the airline will fly direct flights to South Africa. He said it would encourage them to consider it faster and faster. later.
“This new visa regime will boost travel from large markets like India. South Africa is likely to attract tourists from India, taking into account the weather, natural beauty and common culture and heritage. There are many, but unfortunately, Indians were unable to visit the country. This could be due to delayed and complicated visa procedures and shortages of direct flights between India and South Africa in the past,” said Ashish Sharma. said.
“We are confident that the first challenge will be resolved and the second will be resolved soon. We are getting positive input from the government and the aviation sector on considering direct flights between India and South Africa.” added Ashish Sharma.
Ashish Sharma said that the Indian major airlines have received new aircraft delivery in 2026 and are confident that there will be direct flights between South Africa and India.
Gourish Chakravorthy, chairman of South Africa's Bengal Association and CEO of Ion Exchange Safic, a joint venture between the two countries, said that people are tourism-conscious in India.
“This digitisation of South Africa's visa reform is very welcome as it not only speeds up visa issuance, but also helps to scrutinize visa applications and eliminate the errors associated with issuing real visas for people. .
“This helps all people who deserve a visa get it on time, contribute to the economy, and make it easier for people to visit this beautiful country and increase the income generated from tourism.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published by Syndicate Feed.)
