Business

Visitor numbers up 32% in June

29 June 2010

Migration into South Africa increased by 32% in June compared to the same month last year, due to the 2010 Fifa World Cup™, the Department of Home Affairs said on Friday.

"What we have noted is that there has been a high spike. There has been an upsurge in the number of foreigners, and it can only be attributed to the World Cup," spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said in a statement.

A total of 744 520 foreign nationals had travelled to South Africa since the beginning of June.

"The top five nationalities entering the country remains the SADC (SA Development Community) states of Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and Botswana."

This was followed by Britain, the United States, Germany, Australia, Mexico Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Zambia and Argentina. With the exception of Zambia, all of these countries had teams competing in the World Cup.

Home affairs also noted 13 638 violations of immigration rules since the beginning of June. This included people overstaying their visas, abusing their temporary residence permits, and passports flagged as lost or stolen.

Mamoepa said 140 people had been stopped from boarding planes headed to South Africa because their passports and visas had been flagged beforehand.

Sapa



	South African football fans watch Bafana Bafana take on Japan in an international friendly at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth, November 2009 (Photo: 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa Organising Committee)