Figures suggest tourism recovery has legs 
Siseko Njobeni

Trade and Industry Correspondent

THE number of overseas tourists to SA this July increased 7,8%, keeping the momentum in the upswing in tourist figures, Statistics SA data showed yesterday.

The figures also marked the continuation of the turnaround in tourist numbers from the UK and Germany — two of SA’s biggest sources of tourists.

There was recently a dip in the numbers of arrivals from these markets, which tourism companies attributed to the strong rand.

The strong rand also affected tourists’ spending patterns and length of stay.

SA Tourism last week said there had been a 19,7% increase in total foreign direct spend.

The body’s CEO, Moeketsi Mosola, said each tourist spent on average R408 more than in the corresponding period last year.

The total direct spend for the second quarter increased on the corresponding period last year’s R8,6bn to R10,3bn.

Mosoa said the rand had stabilised, hence the growth in the tourism revenue.

In its growth strategy, SA Tourism has said that it wanted to increase both volumes and value of tourists.

Tourism contributed R93,6bn, or 7,4%, to the national economy last year.

The industry is also one of the country’s biggest employers.

The Statistics SA figures showed that overseas tourists in July this year rose from 137538 in the corresponding period last year to 148212, and most of these were from the UK (29537), US (25793) and Germany (12013).

At 17,6%, the US had the biggest increase in arrivals, while there was a 30,9% decrease in tourists from France.

According to the figures released yesterday, the number of tourists from other African countries increased 26%, from 381846 in the corresponding period last year to 481109. Lesotho accounted for 28,8% of tourists to SA, followed by Swaziland (16,2%) and Botswana (15,5%).

The highest increase in the number of tourists from a single country came from Mozambique, which was 106,7%, up on that of the corresponding period last year — although this came from a relatively low base of 31926 to 66002 visitors.

Mosola has previously attributed the increase in tourists from Mozambique to the relaxation of visa requirements.

There was a two-year decline in the number of tourist arrivals from Mozambique.

Second-quarter figures from SA Tourism showed that African countries had made the biggest contribution to total foreign direct spend in SA, followed by Europe.