South African Tourism is Booming

South African tourism is in a strong growth phase with largest growth figures in 2006 coming from the African continent 18,3% and North America 9,7% increase .

Tourism is the top economic performer in South Africa. According to Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk: “South Africa's economy has been in an upward phase of the business cycle since September 1999. This has been the longest period of economic expansion in our country's recorded history. Our tourism industry, having overtaken gold as a source of foreign exchange, is one of the major contributors to this growth.”

Since 1999, the South African government has increased the budget allocation for tourism by 400% and the effect on the industry's growth has been phenomenal. Covering the period January to September 2006, there was a 14,5% increase in South African tourism arrivals over the comparable figure for 2005. This means that South Africa had 765 675 more visitors in the first nine months of 2006 than in the first nine months of 2005.

Largest growth in South African tourism is from the African Continent

Over six million people (6 055 726) visited South Africa between January and September last year, making it likely that South Africa is well on track to surpass the annual record that was set in 2006. Once more, the largest source of growth was tourism from Africa, with an increase of 18,3% in arrivals from the African continent. However, we also saw strong growth in South African tourism arrivals from North America - an increase of 9,7%, representing almost 20 000 more visitors.

Although it was off a low base, there was a massive 42,4% increase in visitors from the Russian Federation, 24,1% more visitors from Hungary and 17,4% more visitors from Finland. This shows that South Africa has been successful at achieving broader market penetration on the European continent, beyond the traditional source markets in Western Europe.

Asian connections grow South African Tourism

With business a tie strengthening between the African continent and India, South Africa was pleased with a 4,5% increase in arrivals from Asia in particular with 17,5% more visitors from India and excellent growth in arrivals from Japan, Thailand and Singapore.

Growth in South African tourism and indeed sub-Saharan African tourism is driving overwhelmingly positive tourism performance on the continent.

Africa grows as a tourist destination.

Over the past two years Africa has achieved the fastest growth rates of any major region in the world. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), "Africa has outpaced all other regions with almost twice the rate of global growth reaching 8,1% in 2006, following an already strong 2005. This star performance was led by sub-Saharan Africa (+9,4%), while North Africa (+5,8%) also ended the year above average. Major destinations such as South Africa, Kenya and Morocco all continued to post excellent results."

Some South African articles: Soweto; Cape Town; Durban

Some African articles: Nairobi; Casablanca, Accra