Foreign tourist arrivals

Foreign tourist arrivals show that strong growth trend continues from Asia and Africa

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Created on Monday, 02 April 2012 09:33

Decline on arrivals from Italy and rest of Europe except Germany

The figures for foreign tourist arrivals for Jan - November 2011 have been released. Jan - Nov ’11 tourist arrivals grew by 2,7% compared with the same period in 2010. The main contributor was Africa land arrivals. Tourist arrivals from Europe and the Americas continued to decline, while those from Asia continued to increase.

Total tourist arrivals to South Africa for the period Jan - Nov 2011 increased by 2,7% (196,939 arrivals) to 7,528,250 compared with 7,331,311 arrivals for Jan - Nov 2010. African land arrivals increased by 6,6% (326,808). Overseas tourist arrivals declined by 3% with 60,080 fewer arrivals from Jan - Nov 2011, compared with the same period in 2010.

Europe remained the top performing overseas source region in terms of tourist arrivals, followed by the Americas, and with Asia and Australasia gaining ground.

Germany remained the only key European source region to achieve growth; with overall Europe (including UK) arrivals continuing their decline.

Arrivals from Europe declined by 4,4% (-52,390) to 1,136,127 arrivals compared with 1,188,517 arrivals during the same period in 2010.

UK arrivals declined by 8.1% (-32,631) but continues to be the top performing European market with 372,122 arrivals. The next best performing European source market was Germany, which saw a 9,9% increase in arrivals to 211,824.

The Netherlands was next with 100,934 arrivals, a 10% decline. France declined 9,9% to 96,036 arrivals. Italy arrivals declined by 1,4% to 48,931.

The decline in arrivals from Central and South America continued, with arrivals from North America remaining stable.

Asia arrivals increased by 13,4% (31,977) to 271,200. The top performing Asian markets were India, China (including Hong Kong) and Japan respectively. India arrivals grew 27,2% (17,662) to 82,700. China arrivals increased by 22% (13,977) to 77,380, while Japanese arrivals declined by 7,1% (-1,860) to 24,355.

Arrivals from Australasia declined by 5,1% (-5,918) to 109,172. Arrivals from Australia declined by 5% (-4,879) to 92,600. New Zealand arrivals declined by 5,7% to 16,246.

Growth recorded in Africa air and land markets

African air markets increased by 6,1% (18,595) to 323,930 arrivals. The biggest growth in the African air markets came from Nigeria with arrivals increasing 36,8% (15,559) to 57,889.

Tourist arrivals from Angola, the next best performing African air market, increased by 0.4% with 35,240 arrivals. DRC arrivals grew 9,4% to 29,912. Kenya arrivals increased by 3,6% to 27,136.

In the smaller air markets, growth was achieved from Tanzania, Uganda, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Seychelles, with Mauritius remaining static. All other smaller air markets declined. Arrivals from Tanzania increased by 48,2% to 26,053.

Africa land arrivals increased by 6,6% (326,808) to 5,274,378.

The top performing Africa land market was Zimbabwe, which grew 2,2% (29,754) to 1,397,390. Arrivals from Lesotho increased 19,6% (227,770) to 1,388,640.

Mozambique arrivals increased by 2,7% to 994,294. Swaziland arrivals increased by 9,2% to 629,760. Botswana arrivals declined by 5,3% to 426,127. Namibia arrivals increased by 2,9% to 171,774. Zambia arrivals increased by 1,7% to 144,445. Arrivals from Malawi increased by 6,3% to 121,948.