South African Tourism booming
Speaking at the African Business Tourism yesterday, South African Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said that South Africa’s 2006 figures show a 14.5% increase in tourism arrivals compared with 2005 figures.
He went on to say, “What we have achieved together is reflected in the exponential growth of South Africa’s tourism industry since our transition to democracy in 1994.”
According to the statistics, South Africa had 765,675 more visitors in the first nine months of 2006 than in the first nine months of 2005, with Mr Van Schalkwyk adding, “Over six million people visited South Africa between January and September last year, suggesting that we are well on track to surpass the annual record that we set in 2005.”
He said that the largest source of growth was from Africa, with an increase of 18.3% in arrivals from the African continent and also that there was also strong growth in arrivals from North America, with an increase of 9.7%, which represented almost 20,000 more visitors.
Mr Van Schalkwyk said that there was also a “massive” 42.4% increase in visitors from the Russian Federation, +24.1% from Hungary and +17.4% percent from Finland, adding that this showed that South Africa was successful at achieving broader market penetration on the European continent.
He said South Africa had also achieved a 4.5% increase in arrivals from Asia, with 17.5% more visitors from India and what he described as “excellent growth” in arrivals from Japan, bucking the declining trend elsewhere, in addition to Thailand and Singapore, with arrivals from China, Malaysia and the Phillipines declining.
Van Schalkwyk said growth in South African and sub-Saharan African tourism was driving overwhelmingly positive tourism performance on the continent, with over the past two years Africa achieving the fastest growth rates of any major region in the world.”
Van Schalkwyk also said though that South Africa’s business tourism sector still needed attention, adding, “On average, business travellers spend three times more than leisure travellers and up to 40% of business travellers return to a destination within five years, with business tourists currently making up 5% of South Africa’s total tourism market.
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