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Cape Town - VFS Global has extended the South African Visa Application Process to seven new locations in India.
Financialexpress.com reports residents of Gurgaon, Jaipur, Kolkata, Goa, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru can now apply for visa in their respective cities.
According to the report, the visa centres in Kolkata, Jaipur and Gurgaon will fall under the preview of South African High Commission, New Delhi and the application centres in Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa and Bengaluru will fall under the discretion of South Africa Consulate General, Mumbai.
With these introductions, VFS Global has expands its operation to nine South Africa visa application centres in India.
The move was previously announced by Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom as key tourism stakeholders claimed South Africa's new visa rules were negatively impacting visitors to South Africa since they had to travel long distance to visa facilitation centres if they stayed outside of Deli and Mumbai.
At the time Hannekom said South Africa needs to find the right balance between appropriate measures to protect its boundaries, combat child trafficking and to do it in such a way that it has a “minimal negative impact on tourism”.
India is the third largest source market in Australasia and ranks seventh globally. The move goes a long way in popularising the South Africa among Indian travellers, Hanneli Slabber, country manager, South African Tourism said in the report stating, “India is a strategic tourism source market for South Africa with massive growth potential".
"To further bolster growth, we will put in our best efforts to make South Africa a preferred holiday destination among Indian travellers in the times to come",” said Slabber.
