3.6 million travellers passed through SA’s ports of entry in August

According to Statistics South Africa’s latest publication, 3,698,819 travellers – arrivals, departures and transits – passed through South Africa’s ports of entry in August.

Of these, 1,006,615 were South African residents and 2,692,204 foreign travellers.

“Foreign arrivals, 1,377,914 were made up of 88,009 non-visitors and 1,289,905 visitors. The visitors consisted of 392,927 same-day visitors and 896,978 overnight visitors (tourists). The breakdown of the tourists by region is as follows: 213,074 from overseas; 668,741 from the SADC countries; 13,845 from ‘other’ African countries and the country of residence of 1,318 tourists was classified as unspecified,” said Stats SA in a statement.

According to Stats SA, the volume of arrivals, departures and transits increased for both South African residents and foreign travellers in August 2019, compared to August 2018.

A comparison between the movements in July 2019 and August 2019 also indicated a decrease in the volume of arrivals for South African residents but showed an increase for foreign travellers.

Of the foreign travellers (overseas), 118,657 came from Europe; 39,448 from North America, 26,265  from Asia; 11,368 from Australasia; 9,806 from Central and South America; and 7,530
from the Middle East.

The ten leading overseas countries in terms of the number of tourists visiting South Africa in August 2019 were:

1. United States of America (USA), 34,967

2. United Kingdom (UK), 30,189

3. Germany, 18,787

4. France, 14,095

5. Italy, 13,517

6. The Netherlands, 13,076

7. Australia, 9,995

8. India, 7,555

9. China, 7,460

10. Spain, 6,990

South Africa saw an increase in tourists from Italy, India, and the USA and a decrease in tourists from Australia.

Virtually all tourists from Africa, 668,741, came from the SADC countries, said Stats SA.

The ten leading SADC countries in terms of the number of tourists visiting South Africa in August 2019 were:

1. Zimbabwe, 214,388

2. Lesotho, 120,510

3. Mozambique, 115,855

4. Swaziland, 89,605

5. Botswana, 62,365

6. Malawi, 20,338

7. Namibia, 15,949

8. Zambia, 13,905

9. Angola, 5,775

10. DRC, 4,294

The majority of tourists, 876,743, were in South Africa for holiday, while 14,821, 4,914 and 500 came for business, study, and for medical treatment respectively.

Compared to other overseas regions, Europe had the highest numbers of tourists, 115,756 who came for holiday, while 2,218 came for business, 621 came for study, and 62 came for
medical treatment.

Within the overseas regions, Australasia had the highest number of its tourists who came for holiday, 11,225, followed by Central and South America, 9,668; North America, 38 659; Europe,
115,756; the Middle East, 7,303; and Asia, 24,633.

The majority of African tourists, 668,261, came to South Africa for a holiday.

(Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde.)

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