Bumpy ride for tourism

TOO MANY LOCAL PROBLEMS: SA RECOVERING SLOWER THAN IN THE REST OF THE WORLD

Upbeat comments by politicians and tourism bodies about growth in the sector are decidedly at odds with the official numbers of foreign tourists visiting South Africa. It is true that the number of tourists arriving in the country increased sharply last year compared to 2022, as celebrated in a recent report – as is the warning by Cape Town officials that the number of tourists arriving on cruise ships this week is such that traffic problems should be expected. But visitor numbers are still way lower than before the Covid pandemic.

Of concern is that tourism in SA is recovering slower than in the rest of the world, indicating that there are local problems that are keeping tourists away.

The most recent Statistics SA report on tourism shows the number of foreign tourists visiting the country last year increased by 45% compared to 2022 – with nearly 11.7 million foreign visitors arriving last year versus just over eight million the year before.

But one needs to look at more statistics to put this big increase in tourist numbers into perspective.

Compared to 3.1 million arrivals in 2021 and 4.6 million in 2020, the recent number does look good, but both those years were affected by the international ban on travel due to the pandemic.

‘Overseas’ visitor recovery lagging Stats SA splits foreign tourist arrivals into different categories:

Total foreign tourist arrivals includes visitors from Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, the rest of Africa, and the rest of the world.

“Overseas visitors” describes people arriving from destinations other than African countries.

Digging deeper into the figures discloses that rich holidaymakers from abroad have not been returning to SA. The increase in the number of foreign visitors is largely as a result of growth in regional travel.

The recovery in visitors arriving from destinations beyond the African continent has lagged. These visitors arrive mostly by air, mostly from Europe, and spend an average of 14 days in the country.

The figure has increased by 42% over 2022 but is still 30% below 2019.

Other destinations recovering faster

In contrast, tourism to other popular international holiday destinations – such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and France – have recovered to pre-Covid levels, as have visitor numbers to Thailand and Bali. Tourist numbers for Mexico are ahead of 2019.