SA arrival stats for 2017 commentary from Grant Thornton

Source: Tourism Update, 21/03/2018

Stats SA released the 2017 tourism arrival statistics this afternoon.
South Africa welcomed 10.29 million foreign tourists (visitors who
stayed overnight) in 2017. This is up only 2% over 2016.
Lee-Anne Bac, Director: Advisory Services at Grant Thornton
says: “This increase is unfortunately underwhelming and significantly
below the global average of 7%.”
She added that although the number of overseas tourists (2.7 million)
is up 7% in 2017, this growth was driven by excellent performance in
the first half of the year. In the fourth quarter of 2017, Stats SA
reveals that the number of overseas tourists increased by only 4%,
and this figure was driven down by an increase of less than 1% in
December 2017.
“We attribute the dramatic decline at the end of the year to the
impact of the water crisis in Cape Town, coupled with South Africa’s
strengthening currency,” continues Bac.
According to Stats SA, the number of African arrivals (7.6 million)
is a mere 0,8% up in 2017 �` driven by a significant decline in Q1
of
8%. For the remaining three quarters of 2017, African arrivals
increased by 5% (Q2), 4% (Q3) and 4% (Q4) respectively.
“Overall, this level of growth is not good enough for meaningful
change and these numbers will not contribute towards sustaining
economic transformation,” says Bac. “We are encouraged however, by
Minister Malusi Gigaba’s Budget speech this afternoon. In particular
we welcome the SA Tourism budget increase from R1.14bn (€79.5mn) to
R1.23bn (€85.8mn), an 8% increase �` well ahead of inflation, and
given that many budgets accelerated by less, we appreciate the
commitment by Gigaba to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s SONA statement
that we will ‘enhance support for destination marketing’.”
Key source countries with low growth/ declines in tourism numbers in
2017
UK: 0% (no growth over 2016). As the UK is a significant source
market, no growth from this market has a big impact on total arrival
figures.
New Zealand: down 24% in 2017. A clear indication of the impact of
visa regulations on demand.
Nigeria: down 22%
China: down 17% (eroding half the growth from this market in 2016)
Key source markets with excellent growth in arrivals in 2017
Russia: up 51%.
France: 27%
Germany: 12%