27 February 2007

More than six million people visited South Africa between January and September last year, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told delegates at the Meetings Africa Business Tourism Conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

"Over 6 million people [6 055 726] visited South Africa between January and September last year, suggesting that we are well on track to surpass the annual record that we set in 2005," Van Schalkwyk said.

Once more, the largest source of growth was Africa, with an increase of 18.3% in arrivals from the continent. There was also strong growth in arrivals from North America, with an increase of 9.7% over the same period in 2005, representing almost 20 000 more visitors.

Although it was off a low base, South Africa also received "a massive 42.4% increase in visitors from the Russian Federation, 24.1% more visitors from Hungary and 17.4% more visitors from Finland," the minister said.

"This shows that we have been successful at achieving broader market penetration on the European continent, beyond our traditional source markets in Western Europe."

The growth rate for arrivals from Europe as a whole was 4.6%, which was just ahead of the global average growth rate of 4.5% for the year.

In addition, South Africa received a 4.5% increase in arrivals from Asia, including 17.5% more visitors from India and "excellent growth in arrivals from Japan, Thailand and Singapore," Van Schalkwyk said.

However, he added, a decrease in arrivals from China, Malaysia and the Phillipines suggested that the country needed to improve its efforts to attract visitors from these key markets.

The minister also announced that the South African Tourism Board had approved a new business tourism growth strategy for the country.

Business tourists currently make up around five percent of South Africa's total tourism market, and contributed R2.3-billion to overall tourism revenue in 2005, representing just over four percent of the total.

"I am certain that this figure will be improved upon in the lead-up to [the 2010 Fifa World Cup], and believe that the industry's vision of doubling this figure in the next three years is not overly ambitious," Van Schalkwyk said.

Research indicated that business travellers spent on average three times more than leisure travellers, he noted, and that up to 40% of business travellers returned to a destination within five years.

If the business tourism sector succeeded in increasing the proportion of business tourists to South Africa, and in getting them to stay longer and spend more, there will be an increase the number of jobs created per tourist, the minister said.

"This will be crucial if our sector is to meet the expectations created by its priority position within Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgi-SA)."

Source: BuaNews

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