South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, plans to launch the Tourism Safety Strategy in December, following the drop in traveller numbers reflected in the September Tourism and Migration Statistics report from Statistics South Africa.
Kubayi-Ngubane says the major reason for this decrease is concerns around safety and security of tourists, something that will be addressed by the Tourism Safety Strategy.
“We are committed to reach the target of 21 million arrivals by 2030 and we are working with all the stakeholders in the sector to make this a reality,” says Kubayi-Ngubane. “We realise as we work toward this target that we might experience some fluctuations, but we will ensure that the overall trajectory remains positive.”
The Stats SA figures show that tourist arrivals from January to September this year were 7 562 743, a drop of 2.1% compared with 7 727 732 in 2018. The biggest decline was in arrivals from Australasia and Europe.
