China and South Africa have pledged to create tourism opportunities in both countries. This emerged on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, as CGTN's Yolisa Njamela reports. 

South Africa's tourism department recently revealed that Africa, in particular this country, is the new top destination for Chinese tourists in 2018. In fact, in 2016, China and South Africa pledged mutual support for each other's tourism ventures as the two countries deepen cooperation on all fronts of their development.

YOLISA NJAMELA JOHANNESBURG "SA continues to explore ways to entice the Chinese market, as well as tapping into China as a growing tourism destination."

Just this year SA Tourism announced its People-to-people Exchange mechanism for growing tourism. Tour companies have even added Mandarin-speaking guides and translating their promotional materials into Mandarin as a standard.

BARBA GAOGANEDIWE SPOKESPERSON, GAUTENG TOURISM AUTHORITY "Tourism is not only about pictures, Instagram. It's about connecting people. It's about how you can take forward your millennium development goals. It's about how you can create clean environment. It's about how you can connect to transport. Let's explore the possibility of connecting the countries culturally and through tourism."

JEFF SUN SOUTH AFRICAN PREMIUM WINE ASSOCIATION "In 2006 there were more than a hundred and twenty thousand Chinese tourism to South Africa. In 2016, the statistics show that, and also government implemented a national tourism strategy that would bring South Africa to increase by two thousand and twenty-six, twenty-two hundred percent tourism increase."

China and South Africa also signed an agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Tourism in October 2013. The key focus areas of the agreement include skills development, promoting tourism development and investment opportunities. He also includes tourism marketing of both countries.

MANDISA TSHIKWATAMBA CEO, SMALL ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY "Education is one of the important things when we are talking business. We find our young people connecting better with the countries in the BRICS bloc. Many of our young people go to China to study, as well as to Russia and even Cuba for studies and India. We wish this could be not just a matter of education but platform whereby our young people would get this education as a bridge that connects them to BRICS as a whole in particular China."

To make the travel experience even more seamless for Chinese citizens, South Africa has established visa facilitation centres in nine Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou.

CHEN WEIQIAN CHINA INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL SERVICE "South Africa, this country for many Chinese people is like a dream because there are lots of things in this country that appeals to Chinese tourists. Like the most favorite is what we see from the animal world. We are always looking forward to seeing the wild animals."

China is one of South African Tourism's core markets in Asia. Yolisa Njamela, CGTN, Sandton, South Africa.