South Africa could see international tourists reaching pre-Covid levels in 2024

South Africa’s tourism sector is on the road to recovering to the levels it saw before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille shone a spotlight on the recent numbers the sector has seen.

Speaking at the Tourism Economic Impact roundtable held by SA Tourism, together with the department and Tourism Business Council of South Africa, she shared statistics of how the sector has been performing.

International visits to South Africa

The minister said the country saw at least 8.5 million international arrivals in 2023, which is an increase of 48.9% from the 5.7 million arrivals which were seen in 2022. De Lille said the 2023 arrivals contributed R95 billion in terms of spend.

“The R95 billion total tourist foreign direct spend was an increase of 92% in 2023, surpassing 2019 levels a new all-time high for the destination.”

The arrivals in 2024 continue to increase as well. The country has seen at least 3.8 million international arrivals between January to May, up by 9.7% compared to the same period in 2023.

When the arrivals are put in monetary figures, there was a total spend of R25.7 billion from foreign travel in South Africa in the first quarter of 2024.

Quoting projections by Oxford Economics, the minister said by the end of 2024 it is estimated to reach 10.7 million, surpassing pre-pandemic year 2019. “International arrivals to the country are expected to grow to 15.1 million by 2030, based on Oxford’s updated projections for 2024.”

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Tourism sector’s contribution to GDP

De Lille said the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP is projected to reach 8.8% by the end of 2024 and reach 10.4% of GDP by 2030. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the sector’s contribution in 2019 was 9.5%.  

“Tourism’s contribution to the GDP naturally dipped during Covid-19 but recovered to 8.2% in 2023,” she added.

The sector contributes more than transport, mining, and agriculture, and nearly matching the government’s contribution to GDP.

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Safety a priority for tourists

Another key issue De Lille highlighted was that of safety. “One of the first things people google when they are about to visit another country is how safe the country is.”

The department has invested R174 million to enhance the safety of tourists. This includes deploying more than 2 300 tourism monitors across the country.  

She mentioned that most travellers have a safe experience in the country, but the department does have to do more to clamp down on crime.

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Visa waivers for more than 100 countries

She said the country has visa waivers for 132 countries. “This means travellers from these countries do not need a visa to visit our country for periods of up to 90 days.”

She will soon meet with Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber to discuss how the two departments can streamline e-visa applications. “We have also launched the e-visa application system to 34 countries, however there are substantial improvements needed here, especially for key source markets such as China and India,” said De Lille.

According to the Department of Home Affairs’ website, countries that South Africa has waivers with include Angola, Australia, China, Egypt and Japan.

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