Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber has gazetted a second invitation for applications to the highly successful Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS).
Since the first tourist visa applications from China and India were processed through this scheme on 12 February 2025, the department has been inundated with requests to expand it so that more tour operators can contribute to driving tourism growth.
READ | SA welcomes first visitors from China through new visa initiative
The department said it is encouraged by this “overwhelmingly positive response”, as it confirms the enormous potential of visa reforms to create more jobs by bringing more tourists to South Africa’s shores.
In response to these calls, and after effecting additional upgrades to the online platform that processes TTOS applications, Schreiber opened a second window for more tour operators to apply to join the scheme.
Tour operators who want to apply have 30 days to submit their applications through the dedicated online portal accessible via the department’s website. No paper-based applications will be accepted.
As with the first intake, applications will be assessed by an interdepartmental team using Artificial Intelligence tools to vet and select successful participants.
“The key to the success of TTOS lies in the fact that the process has been digitally transformed from start to end.
“Whereas prospective tourists from China and India previously had to stand in long queues, submit paper applications, and sometimes wait so long for paper outcomes that they missed their flights, the digitalisation of this process through TTOS means that even visa outcomes for large groups are now issued digitally within hours,” he said.
“In the weeks since TTOS was launched, over 2 000 additional tourists from China and India, who would otherwise not have come to our country owing to previous visa inefficiencies, have come to our country.
“Even more encouraging is the trend of applications received. On the first day of operation, 12 February, 21 applications were received.
“[On] 3 April, this figure had grown to 165 per day and shows no sign of slowing down. The intake of more operators will further accelerate this growth, as Home Affairs delivers on our commitment to replace a manual, paper-based and insecure visa system with secure, world-class digital infrastructure to drive economic growth,” the minister said. – SAnews.gov.za
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