Since welcoming the first tour group attracted to South Africa through the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) digital platform in late February, the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, can today announce that 11 144 tourists from China and India have now obtained digital visas through this scheme in just three months. The volume of applications has grown consistently from an average of 50 per day in March, to 135 per day in April, and to 210 per day in May thus far. These are tourists who otherwise would not have come to South Africa, given the challenges previously experienced with obtaining visas for tour groups from China and India.

The latest research facilitated by Operation Vulindlela shows that one new job is created for every thirteen tourists who visit the country, suggesting that TTOS has already created 857 new tourism jobs since February with this one reform alone.

Under TTOS, the Department of Home Affairs has partnered with 65 tour operators under a risk-sharing model that grants them access to a digital platform to submit and receive visa outcomes for tour groups from China and India. Whereas travellers from these major source markets, which are home to over 2.8 billion people, previously had to travel great distances to submit paper visa applications, the outcomes for which sometimes only arrived after their planes had already departed, TTOS visas are now consistently delivered digitally through our secure online platform within a matter of hours.

Minister Schreiber, who conceptualised the scheme, said: “It is important to note that TTOS is still just a small-scale proof of concept. But after three months of operation, it is already clear that it has been a resounding success. TTOS has attracted over 11 000 additional tourists in this short time, working with just 65 partners. This amounts to almost a third of all tourists from China who visited South Africa last year. The success of TTOS demonstrates the enormous growth potential that we can unlock by rolling out a digital-only visa platform – not only for group travel from these 65 partners, but for every tourist in the world.”

Minister Schreiber concluded: “This is exactly what Home Affairs is building. In addition to shortly announcing a second intake of tour operators to further boost the number of group tours attracted through TTOS, we are on track to deliver a world-class Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system this year. This system will completely digitalise and automate all tourism and short-stay visas, enabling every tourist on earth who wants to visit South Africa to instantly and securely obtain a digital visa. Not only will this eliminate fraud and inefficiency, but, as TTOS demonstrates beyond all doubt, it will amount to the single biggest reform to boost job creation in the tourism sector in decades.”

For media enquiries, please contact:

Siya Qoza, Cell number: 082 898 1657

Duwayne Esau – Spokesperson for the Minister, Cell number: 077 606 9702

ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS