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SA arrivals: Key markets decline 29 Aug 2018 - Tourism Update

Source: Tourism Update, 29/08/2018

South Africa’s overseas visitors declined slightly in June, but remain
consistent with seasonal trends.
Statistics SA’s latest tourism and migration report, reflecting
arrival numbers for June, reveals that South Africa saw marginal
growth of 2.8% from June last year. However, overseas numbers in fact
declined, reflecting a drop of 1.7% year-to-date arrivals.
The top ten countries remain the same as May, with their positions in
the top ten having shifted slightly. Important to note is the increase
in arrivals from key source markets such as USA and UK, which are
consistently the top two countries. The top ten countries and their
percentage changes from the same time last year are:
1. USA (up 1.2%)
2. UK (up 3.2%)
3. Germany (down 12.8%)
4. Australia (down 9.1%)
5. India (down 8.5%)
6. France (down 8.7%)
7. China (up 9.1%)
8. Brazil (down 10.6%)
9. Netherlands (down 0.9%)
10. Canada (down 0.7%)
Overall, European numbers have declined, showing 2% less than the same
time last year. North America has shown a small amount of growth, up 0.7%.
An examination of the trends over the last four years shows an
expected seasonal decline around June. Comparatively, although 2018 is
down slightly from 2017, it continues to reflect the seasonal shifts
seen in previous years. The graph below reflects the overall numbers
of the last four years to illustrate this.

The Chinese market continues to grow. Last month, Tourism Minister
Derek Hanekom made special note of this during a pre-recorded
interview screened at the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association
conference. Hanekom encouraged South Africans to welcome Chinese
tourists, even suggesting learning Mandarin to tap into the market
more effectively.
The Portuguese market continues to decline, reflecting a 21% decline
in numbers from 2017, compared with the year-to-date figures for this
year. Conversely, the Argentinian arrivals have grown a remarkable 30%
this year, adding to strong numbers from South America which has grown
to 57 051 arrivals so far this year, 6.7% higher than last year.
South Africa’s largest source market overall continues to be SADC
countries, making up 73% of all arrivals and 98% of the total arrivals
from Africa. With 3.7 million arrivals this year, this is a 4.3%
increase in year-to-date numbers from last year. South Africa’s
neighbouring countries provided the most visitors with the largest
being Zimbabwe followed by Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini (Swaziland)
and Botswana. Angola has shown the most growth, up 22% from the same
month last year, followed by Malawi which is up 10%.
Consistent with these numbers, the report indicates that the majority
of visitors to SA arrived by road (74.8%). Air transport made up a
quarter of all arrivals with the majority of those (74%) using OR
Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg as their port of entry.
Overseas arrivals to Cape Town International Airport remain consistent
at 21% of total arrivals.

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