The surge in interest from the US market can been seen from an analysis of the 50 000 users who visited Tourism Update’s site in the last 30 days.

Users in the US are now 84% higher than SA’s traditional market leader, the United Kingdom.

In the 30 days up to February 13, there were 4 958 users from the US compared with 2 610 from the UK.

The interest from both the US and the UK has grown considerably since just before COVID. Comparing the last 30 days with the same period in 2020 shows a 21% increase in US users and a 10 % increase in the UK.

Another notable source market to show growth is the Netherlands. The 1 144 Tourism Update users is an increase of 87% since the same period before COVID in 2020.

With the cessation of SAA flights to the US, should this interest translate into bookings, air access and the cost of airfares is likely to become the burning issue.

Some relief, however, came from the announcement last week that United Airlines will fly to Cape Town all year.

And Delta Air Lines – in addition to its direct service to Johannesburg, which it has been operating for 15 years – has also reached agreement with its partners that Americans can fly to SA on a Delta airline code via London, Paris and Amsterdam. Delta serves these hubs several times a day from several points in the US.

Its partners, Virgin Atlantic, Air France and KLM, are stepping up their services to Cape Town and Johannesburg.