South Africa on Monday announced the creation of an innovative new Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) with an initial focus on the burgeoning tourist markets of India and China.

The scheme, set to be implemented from January 2025, will reform the visa system and is expected to “supercharge” job creation in the tourism sector, stated the country’s Home Affairs Department.

The TTOS will remove some of the key obstacles standing in the way of South Africa becoming a favoured tourism destination for the second and fifth largest economies in the world.

According to the country’s government, at the moment, Indian tourists account for only 3.9 per cent of all international visitors to South Africa.

“In collaboration with the Department of Tourism, as well as the Presidency and Operation Vulindlela, the Department of Home Affairs has resolved to play our role in rectifying this unacceptable economic underperformance by urgently clearing obstacles to tourism from these two major source-markets,” the Department of Home Affairs said in a statement.

“After seeing the positive impact made by the Trusted Employer Scheme (TES), which provides swift and simplified visa processing services to vetted and approved businesses to attract critical skills, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber directed that the same principle be applied to cutting red tape and improving efficiency for tourists from non-visa exempt countries like India and China,” it added.

Through TTOS, vetted and approved tour operators from the two countries will be invited to register with the Department.

In exchange for undergoing thorough screening up – front and assuming responsibility for travellers in their groups, the Department will for the very first time process group applications from Indian and Chinese tourists travelling with approved operators.

Tourist visa applications processed through TTOS will be handled by a dedicated and skilled team of adjudicators to ensure swift and reliable processing, and will also benefit from the removal of restrictive red tape that currently suffocates South Africa’s tourism potential.

“Research indicates that boosting tourism by only 10 per cent per year can boost annual economic growth by 0.6 per cent and create tens of thousands of new jobs for South Africans. Travelling in large groups is the preferred option for many tourists from some countries and it is time for our visa system to adapt in order to reflect and capitalise on this reality,” said South African Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber.

“This is only the start of Home Affairs’ embrace of our role as an economic enabler. Exciting as it is, TTOS is itself but an interim measure to boost tourism while we move with speed to digitally transform Home Affairs. Ultimately, our vision is for a fully automated process that delivers secure tourist visa outcomes digitally and within seconds to tourists from around the world,” the minister mentioned.