A Perfect MICE Getaway

Alpa Jani, Acting Hub-Head MEISEA, South African Tourism, elaborates on the suitable MICE incentives South Africa as a destination offers to Indian MICE groups

Elucidate on the steps to arrange group Visa for MICE in South Africa?

South Africa facilitates processing for group visas, on a case to case basis, at the visa offices in Delhi and Mumbai. As part of its tie-up with VFS, South Africa offers visa processing centers in nine key-market cities in India, namely, New Delhi, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa and Bengaluru. This is especially beneficial for MICE groups as corporates might have offices in multiple cities. Visas are processed in 5-7 working days and participants need to provide only basic easy-to-obtain documents related to their travel.

How good is the air-connectivity between India and South Africa? Which are the flights available? Any new ones added?

Despite being long-haul, South Africa offers convenience when it comes to accessibility since most travellers choose to fly via Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which offer a wide choice of onward flights to South Africa. This is especially significant for conferences that come in from multiple Indian cities because most of them are well-connected to the Gulf. Over 70 international airlines currently fly into South Africa. Efforts are on to increase the seat capacity on relevant flight routes ex-India. Presently, Indian cities are connected to South Africa by Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad Airways, Air Mauritius, Air Seychelles, and RwandAir which fly via their respective hubs and domestic India connections.

Which cities, convention centers, hotels and venues are popular with Indians for MICE in South Africa?