SA tourist arrivals up 8.6%
26 February 2008The number of foreign tourists visiting South Africa increased by 8.6% between January and November 2007, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday, with Africa the country's biggest source market, followed by the Americas.
Speaking at the Meetings Africa Business Tourism Conference in Johannesburg, Van Schalkwyk said the growth in African arrivals in South Africa in 2007 was led by healthy increases out of Kenya at 15.4% and Nigeria at 14.8%.
"Arrivals from the Americas have shown consistent annual growth since 2002, with over 23 400 more visitors arriving from the United States. This brings the total figure to 255 822 and makes this market the second largest source market for South Africa."
The minister said arrivals out of Europe increased by 2.6% for the year to November, adding that this was driven largely by the significant increase of 9.6% out of France.
The increase in arrivals, especially air arrivals, from all regions of the world "reflects not only the growing awareness of South Africa as a tourism destination but also the success of the airlift strategy passed by Cabinet last year that resulted in increased access to the South African market for foreign carriers," Van Schalkwyk said.
More direct flights
The airlift strategy has seen Delta Airlines flying direct to Johannesburg from Atlanta in the US, and the airline has plans to introduce a service between New York and Cape Town this year.
South African Airways has introduced a service between Munich and Johannesburg, and Emirates Airlines now flies into Johannesburg 18 times a week and will soon be flying direct to Cape Town and then to Durban.
China Eastern has opened the route to China, and Thai Air has re-established the route to Bangkok.
There have also been requests from two UK airlines, as well as air carriers from South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Mozambique, Angola and Nigeria, for direct flights into South Africa.
Post-apartheid tourism boom
International tourism to South Africa has surged since the end of apartheid. In 1994, the year of South Africa's first democratic elections, only 3.9-million foreign visitors arrived in the country.
By 2004, international arrivals had more than doubled to 6.7-million. In 2005 they grew another 10.3% to 7.5-million, and in 2006 they increased a further 13.9% to a record 8.4-million.
Some 74% of visitors in 2006 were from mainland Africa and about 26% from overseas. About 92% visited the country for a holiday and approximately 2.3% for business.
Tourism is also one of the fastest growing sectors of South Africa's economy, its contribution to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) increasing from 4.6% back in 1993 to 8.3% in 2006. Directly and indirectly, tourism constitutes approximately 7% of employment in South Africa.
And the outlook for the industry is extremely positive, particularly with the exposure the country will receive in the lead-up to the world's biggest sporting event, the Fifa World Cup, taking place in South Africa in 2010.
SAinfo reporter
|
