Tourist arrivals to the country doubled in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, according to Tourism Minister, Patricia de Lille.
“Between January and September this year, South Africa saw a significant influx of tourists, with over 6.1 million visitors arriving in the country, more than 58.4% when compared to the 3.8million arrivals to South Africa during the same period in 2022.
“During this period, visitors from Africa represented 4.6million of the total arrivals to South Africa, a 60% increase in Africa land arrivals and a 35% increase in Africa air arrivals when compared to the same period in 2022,” de Lille said in response to a suggestion by EFF MP Anthony Matumba that she had failed in her core mandate, including implementing a global tourism brand campaign and integrated destination brand.
The minister was also asked by IFP MP Khethamabala Petros Sithole, whether her department had implemented any of its plans to encourage tourists to visit the country after Covid-19.
De Lille said some of the targets that were not achieved in the previous financial year had been submitted and presented to the portfolio committee with the remedial action.
De Lille said South Africa welcomed more than 862 000 arrivals from Europe between January and September, a 50,9% increase on the more than 571 000 arrivals in 2022.
South Africa welcomed more than 148 000 visitors from Asia, an increase of 82,6% and China`s arrivals showed a significant increase to 3060 visitors in October 2023, a 132,5% increase when compared to the same period in 2022, she said.
De Lille added that all markets saw an increase in arrivals to South Africa

of between 48 and 99%.
“During the first two quarters of 2023, total tourist foreign direct spend amounted to R48 billion.”
Furthermore, South Africans took 18.8 million domestic overnight trips in the first half of 2023.
“This is up 23.4% when compared to the same period in 2022.”
Overnight spend was also up by 21.2% to reach just over R52 billion in the same period, she added.
De Lille noted that there was growth in air access with the resumption of the direct flight from China in February and
Latam launching its inaugural flight to South Africa in September.
South African Airways also relaunched its direct flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg to Sao Paulo in Brazil in October.
She said they were expecting direct flights between Johannesburg and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to resume this month.
“We are working with the Saudi Arabia Air Access team to secure a direct flight from Cape Town to Jeddah.
“South Africa also has six active airlines connecting over 23 cities in African countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Botswana.”
De Lille added that they had scrapped a controversial R1 billion Tottenham Hotspurs deal within a month after her arrival in the department.
“In the 2023-24 financial year, due to my intervention, an out-of-court settlement was reached, unlocking the R1.2 billion Tourism Equity Fund.” The minister said the green paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa was gazetted for public comment in September. V.5114

There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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Home Affairs’ seemingly endless court battles set the department back more than R110-million between April 2023 and the end of February this year. This was revealed in a written parliamentary response by minister Aaron Motsoaledi. He said the department accumulated a litigation bill of R117 692 996.3, higher than the R72 637 944.51 spent the year before. V.5315
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Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) this week revealed that Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) has achieved a ground-breaking milestone by processing more than 10 million passengers over a single financial year. This is the highest number of regional and international passengers processed since COVID-19 V.5316
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In recent years, South Africa has seen a significant influx of immigrants from various African countries, as well as other parts of the world. This has raised important questions about the country`s immigration policies and their impact on job creation for both locals and immigrants. The South African immigration system, like many other countries, is a complex and ever-evolving process that aims to balance the country`s economic needs with its social and cultural interests. Let`s take a closer look at how this system intersects with job creation in South Africa. The South African government implemented the Immigration Act of 2002, which outlines the country`s immigration policies and procedures. Under this act, foreigners are required to obtain a visa or permit to enter, work, or study in South Africa. The type of visa or permit required depends on the intended purpose of the individual`s visit and their country of origin. V.5312
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Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17 V.5313
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Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation. V.5306
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