South Africa has officially welcomed its first large group of leisure tourists from China post-COVID, setting the ball rolling on the industry’s goal of reaching one million annual arrivals from the Asian powerhouse by 2030.
The group of 13 tourists, along with their tour guide, flew from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Air China flight CA867, touching down to a jubilant welcome at OR Tambo International Airport at 07h47 on Wednesday. The high-end tourists – clients of Chinese travel agency GZL International Travel – were greeted by dignitaries from, amongst others, South African Tourism, the Chinese consulate and the Gauteng Tourism Authority, and South African and Chinese media.
SA Tourism COO Nomasonto Ndlovu said South Africa was projecting Chinese arrivals to reach monthly pre-pandemic levels (approximately 8 000 per month) by September.
“China is one of the most promising source markets for South Africa, and before the pandemic we welcomed almost 100 000 Chinese tourists. Looking at our projections, we know that it is possible to push this number to one million by 2030,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu said that if this target was reached, the country would receive over R100 billion (€5bn) in Chinese tourist spend over a period of five years.
“The impact on the economy of South Africa would be significant and very sustainable. For this reason SA Tourism wants to continue working very hard with all key stakeholders to address all the barriers to attracting numbers from China,” said Ndlovu, pointing out that arduous visa processes remained an obstacle.
According to Ndlovu, SA Tourism will leverage two major events in 2023 that would be of relevance to the Chinese market, namely the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban in May, and the 15th BRICS Summit taking place in Johannesburg in August.
This group of tourists who arrived on Wednesday will travel with China-focused tour operator SA Magic Travel to Cape Town, before moving on to Sun City in the North West province.
Air China ups frequencies
Air China has upped its frequencies from one weekly direct flight between Shenzhen and Johannesburg, to thrice-weekly. The flights land in South Africa on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This is in addition to six weekly non-direct flights from Beijing.
Air China GM for South Africa, Joe Hu, said that demand for the flights was high, particularly because more than 200 Chinese companies are based in South Africa.
“We are happy to be able to increase our frequencies to South Africa again after COVID and will look at expanding our services to other cities in China based on demand.”
Ndlovu stressed that expanding air access, through initiatives such as the Gauteng Air Access Network, continued to be critical for growing South Africa’s tourist numbers.
“For the recovery of the sector, air access is the one critical factor. So for us, connections to key source markets such as China is vitally important.”
Industry excitement
China’s Deputy Consul General in Johannesburg, Yujiang Zhou, said the hospitality sector in the city was eagerly awaiting the expected influx of Chinese tourists.
“Recently we engaged with about 20 hotels in this city alone. Each and every one of them is excited and expects a huge number of Chinese tourists. This first flight is just the beginning,” said Zhou.
Charles Wang, Business Development Executive at tour operator Walk Through Africa Tours, said the opening of the Chinese market would provide a welcome relief to his business.
“China was our main market prior to COVID and these past few years have been extremely difficult. We are very happy that the market is eventually open and that we can start hosting groups again,” said Wang.
