SOUTH AFRICA was the only tourism destination in the world to have increased its market share after the terror attacks on the United States on September 11 last year, Tourism Minister Valli Moosa said at the weekend.
Confirming this on Sunday, his representative, Thindile Makwakwa, said Moosa had made the statement at a major tourism conference in Durban on Saturday.
”South Africa has defied gravity. Whereas tourism has collapsed in many countries, we have increased in all our markets around the world, especially Europe and Asia, except the United States,” Moosa said.
Figures released at the Tourism Indaba on Saturday showed that 18 469 more foreign tourists visited South Africa in January this year compared with the same month last year.
The statistics emerged from a survey of 150 international tour operators.
According to the Sunday Times, Professor Melville Saayman, of Potchefstroom University, who conducted the survey, said more tourists chose South Africa after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington as perceptions changed about what constituted a safe destination.
Moosa told the conference: ”Tour operators throughout the world actually use the term ‘hot’ when referring to South Africa.” – Sapa