Kolkata among top 10 Indian markets for South Africa Tourism; engages 220 trade partners in city

South African Tourism has engaged over 220 trade partners at their Kolkata roadshow, spotlighting the city as one of its top 10 Indian source markets for incoming travellers. With a series of roadshows across India, they plan to boost their tourism industry and go back to their pre-COVID footfall of Indian customers. 

“Kolkata continues to be a significant source market for South Africa in India, with travellers from the city demonstrating a strong inclination towards culturally rich and experience-driven travel. These travellers value immersive journeys that combine heritage, nature, and authentic local encounters, and are increasingly open to exploring long-haul destinations,” Mitalee Karmarkar, marketing and communications manager (MEISEA) of South Africa Tourism said. 

Ms. Karmarkar also added that between January 2025 to December 2025 South Africa saw around 69,680 arrivals from India alone, among which Kolkata falls within the top 10 source markets. 

“43% of our tourists from Kolkata are travelling for leisure, 18% are MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions tourism), 17% are business travellers, and so on,” Ms Karmarkar said. She also said that tourists from Kolkata are inclined towards offbeat locations, local food, cultural hotspots, and such activities, which are not always the most popular among the average tourists. 

Many of the tourists from West Bengal head to the Eastern Cape, a province which has not been touched, and a place that typically Indians do not visit, officials from South Africa tourism shared based on their market research on customers and their preferences. 

“Our studies found that this is not a new phenomenon, but rather a known pattern among tourists from this part of India. They are experiential. Over 56% of travellers from Kolkata want to see wildlife, and 37% of them always do culture tours, where they do the whole Gandhi tour where they go and see where he stayed, where he worked, and they take keen interest in it,” Ms. Karmarkar added. 

In a push to go back to their pre-COVID footfall from India which was over 1 lakh a year, South Africa is now in talks with the tourism department to launch direct flights between India and South Africa. Officials said that the direct flights between the two countries are likely to be launched by 2026. 

They are also attempting to bring visa reforms so they can become hassle free, and people can get visas between 5-7 business days. In the final push, they are hoping that the 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup will help boost their travel and tourism business further.