The Hindu Business Line : South Africa strikes New Gold with tourism

Hyderabad, Aug. 27 With a view to wooing more tourists from India, South Africa has brought a delegation of tour operators, hospitality representatives and trade representatives to promote a variety of destinations in the country.

Tourism is now called New Gold in South Africa, which is known for its huge gold reserves. “Tourism contributes eight per cent of our Gross Domestic Product. We are going to increase this further,” Ms Medha Sampat, Country Head of South African Tourism in India, said. These representatives would have exclusive interactions with about 100 tour operators and other stakeholders who gathered here from across India to discuss trade alliances.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, she said the country attracted eight million tourists, including 62,000 from India, last year. “We are targeting to cross the 10-million mark by 2010,” she said.

Ms Medha was here in connection with the fourth edition of ‘InCountry Famil’, an annual tourism promotion campaign in the country. The earlier three editions were held in Goa (twice) and Jaipur.

“Of the 62,000 tourists from India, we get a maximum number (up to 60 per cent) from Mumbai and Delhi. We are going to tap other major cities as well,” she added.

Going Filmy

Ms Medha said the African country offered a very attractive package of destinations for film industry. “A number of Hindi movies were shot there. Some Tamil and Telugu producers too used the destinations for their films. We are going to tap this avenue as well,” she said.

The four-day event would have an exclusive session on Bollywood’s exposure to South Africa. “We are going to facilitate the interactions. The tour operators would evolve packages according to the interests and needs of the tourists here in India,” Ms Medha said.

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