Top international source markets to South Africa are exceeding 2019 performances in some metrics, although almost half of flight bookings are still domestic, according to travel marketing and insights company Sojern.

Sojern data shows that domestic tourism and travellers continue to be the mainstay of the sector’s recovery during 2022, with 46.2% of flight bookings as of August coming from South African travellers. However, South Africa’s top international markets are already exceeding 2019 performance.

The UK’s percentage of international arrivals to South Africa in 2022 has increased to 9.6%, compared with 6.6% in 2019. US arrivals in 2019 were 3.9% and have grown to 6.6% in 2022 thus far, while Germany’s 3.7% arrivals in South Africa are up to 4%.

International travellers are planning further ahead compared with the pre-pandemic period of 2019, with over 40% of trips being planned more than three months in advance, whereas domestic travellers are booking trips closer to departure dates, with only 2% of Sojern’s total flight booking volume made up of January and February 2023 bookings thus far.

“The evolving booking windows show that the tourism and hospitality sector can’t only rely on seasonal predictability,” said Stewart Smith, Sojern’s MD for the Middle East and Africa.