The latest figures from Statistics South Africa –  released yesterday  (May 25) – show that a total of 635 758 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South African ports of entry/exit in March.

The numbers were made up of 214 865 South African residents and 420 893 foreign visitors (overseas and Africa).

Top source markets

Global

The leading overseas countries in terms of the number of tourists visiting South Africa in March 2021 were: United States, 2 657 (15.1%); Germany, 2 082 (11.9%); United Kingdom, 1 712 (9.8%); India, 1 428 (8.1%); France, 893 (5.1%); Russian Federation, 779 (4.4%); China, 736 (4.2%); The Netherlands, 685 (3.9%); Pakistan, 631 (3.6%); and Switzerland, 431 (2.5%). Tourists from these ten countries constituted 68.6% of all tourists from overseas countries.

Africa

Virtually most tourists from Africa, 136 506 (97.6%), came from the SADC countries. The distribution of the remaining tourists from Africa is as follows: West Africa, 1 589 (1.1%); East and Central Africa, 1 409 (1.0%); and North Africa 290 (0.2%).

The ten leading SADC countries in terms of the number of tourists visiting South Africa in March 2021 were: Mozambique 42 593 (31.2%); Zimbabwe, 29 750 (21.8%); Lesotho, 23 349 (17.1%); Eswatini, 14 525 (10.6%); Namibia, 7 596 (5.6%); Botswana, 6 784 (5.0%); Zambia, 5 465 (4.0%); Malawi, 4 142 (3.0%); Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 936 (0.7%) and Tanzania, 882 (0.6%).

The ten leading countries in terms of the number of tourists visiting South Africa in March 2021 from 'other' African countries were: Nigeria, 840 (25.5%); Ghana, 550 (16.7%); Kenya, 452 (13.7%); Uganda 323 (9.8%); Ethiopia, 209 (6.4%); Egypt, 157 (4.8%); Gabon, 146 (4.4%); Cameroon, 135 (4.1%); Congo, 65 (2.0%) and Senegal, 47 (1.4%). Tourists from these ten countries constituted 88,9% of all tourists from 'other' African countries.

Mode of transport

In March 2021, 15 756 (89.8%) of the 17 548 overseas tourists arrived in the country by air, while 1 782 (10.2%) came in by road transport and 10 (0.1%) arrived by sea transport.

Tourists from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, on the other hand, came predominantly by road, 122 201 (89.5%) and 14 305 (10.5%) came by air. The number of tourists who came into South Africa by air from 'other' African countries was 3 036 (92.3%), with 252 (7.7%) using road transport.

Purpose of visit

The majority of tourists, 139 333 (88.4%), were in South Africa for holidays, compared with 14 628 (9.3%); 3 331 (2.1%) and 346 (0.2%) who were in South Africa for business, study and for medical treatment respectively.

Compared to other overseas regions, Europe had the highest number of tourists: 8 963 who came for a holiday, 257 who came for business, 289 who came for study and 46 who came for medical treatment.

Within the overseas regions, Australasia had the highest proportion of its tourists who came for a holiday, 97.6% (245) followed by North America, 97.0% (2 833); Europe, 93.8% (8 963); The Middle East, 93.1% (552); Central and South America, 91.7% (452) and Asia, 91.3% (3 409).

Asia, 4.6% (173) had the highest proportion of its tourists who came to South Africa for business, followed by Central and South America, 4.1% (20); Europe, 2.7% (257); North America, 2.0% (57); Australasia, 1.6% (4) and The Middle East, 1.3% (8).

The Middle East, 5.6% (33) had the highest proportion of tourists who came to study, followed by Asia, 3.7% (140); Central and South America, 3.7% (18); Europe, 3.0% (289); North America, 0.8% (24) and Australasia, 0.4% (1). Central and South America had 0.6% (3) of its tourists who came for medical treatment, followed by Europe, 0.5% (46); Australasia, 0.4% (1); Asia, 0.3% (12) and North America, 0.3% (8).

The Middle East had no tourists who came to South Africa for medical treatment. The majority of African tourists, 122 588 (87.7%) came to South Africa for a holiday.