Overseas visitors to South Africa soared by 35% y/y to 198 615 after rising by a record 42% y/y in October. This brought the cumulative increase for the first 11 months to 18.5% y/y for a total of 1 668 352, data supplied by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) show.
The total number of foreign travellers (from overseas, the rest of Africa and from unspecified countries) visiting South Africa during November 2002 increased by 17,6% y/y to 594 116. This brought the cumulative increase for the first 11 months to 10,6% y/y for a total of 5 892 182.
During November 2002, the most common mode of travel used by foreign travellers in arriving in South Africa was road, involving 387 263 (65,2%) visitors, followed by air, involving 189 761 (31,9%) visitors.
Of the total number of foreign travellers arriving by air, 142 782 (75,2%) arrived through Johannesburg International Airport, while 45 118 (23,8%) arrived through Cape Town International Airport, 638 (0,3%) arrived through Durban International Airport and the rest, 1 223 (0,6%), arrived through other airports.
In Parliament on Wednesday, South African Minister for Tourism and Environmental Affairs Valli Moosa said South Africa was the fastest growing tourist destination internationally and he expected new destinations, such as the new national road along the Transkei Wild Coast, to further boost tourism.
By contrast, Australia suffered its second consecutive fall in tourism arrivals as only 4,8-million international visitors arrived in Australia, down by 0,3% in 2002 after a 2% decline in 2001.
South Africa is hosting the 2003 Cricket World Cup from February 9 to March 23 and tourism officials expect this even to further overseas traveler numbers.
Tourism SA has launched package deals such as the ‘Upscale Wanderlusters’ and
‘Next Stop South Africa’ to encourage foreign tourists. The packages sell from $1 999 and both promise to deliver a significant boost to increasing tourist arrivals, encouraging geographic spread and improving seasonality.
“Tourism is a vital component of the South African economy and as such, it needs to be supported with aggressive advertising and marketing initiatives that drive the demand for travel to our country,” said Moeketsi Mosola, South African Tourism’s chief operating officer.
During November 2002, the number of travellers from the UK visiting South Africa was 48 317 (24,3%), making it the leading country of origin of overseas travellers. This was followed by travellers from Germany, 34 507 (17,4%). The other main
countries of origin of overseas travellers were: France, 16 008 (8,1%); the Netherlands, 14 202 (7,2%); the USA, 13 798 (6,9%); Australia, 6 225 (3,1%); Switzerland, 4 832 (2,4%) and Italy, 4 076 (2,1%). The highest increase in the number of arrivals from European countries was for Italy, where the number rose by 91,5% y/y to 2 128.
Statistics South Africa does not specifically track the impact of tourism on gross domestic product, so South African Tourism has to commission private sector experts to estimate the impact of tourism on gross domestic product.
In the third quarter 2002, for instance, South Africa hosted the World Summit on Sustainable Development from August 26 to September 4. The conference attracted more than 60 000 delegates and generated more than R8-billion in economic activity.
Despite this major event and the large y/y growth in overseas visitors, with the number of overseas visitors to South Africa soaring by a then-record 26% y/y in September after growing by 18,2% y/y in August, Statistics South Africa estimated that the sector where most tourism activity is supposedly captured, namely the retail, wholesale trade, restaurants and hotel sector, saw its growth rate drop by a third to only 1,8% seasonally adjusted annualised from the second quarter, when quarterly growth was 2,6%.
Or the year as a whole, Stats SA estimated that this sector grew by only 2,5% in 2002 after growing by 3,3% in 2001. – I-Net-Bridge