While South Africa has seen a decline in tourist arrivals from its traditional markets as well as from emerging markets that had experienced growth until the first half of 2014, competitor destinations have seen an increase in arrivals from these markets.

This much was revealed on Thursday in a joint media briefing by the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA) and SATSA.

Traditional markets like the US, UK and Germany have shown increased travel to destinations such as Australia, Mauritius and Thailand, as have emerging markets like China and India.

In June, US travel to SA dropped 9% year on year while US arrivals were up year on year by 4% in Australia and 30% Thailand. UK arrivals, which declined 8% to SA, were up 3%, 12% and 9% to Australia, Mauritius and Thailand respectively. Arrivals from Germany were down 12% to SA and up 12% to Australia, 3.5% to Mauritius and 6.5% to Thailand.

China, which has been identified as a growth market by many destinations, showed a 31% decline in arrivals to SA for the period, but a 187% increase in arrivals to Thailand. Arrivals to Mauritius and Australia were up 60% and 21% respectively.

Indian arrivals to SA dropped 15% but increased 5% to Australia, 17.5% to Mauritius and 23% to Thailand.