IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In May 2016, 3 365 711 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa’s ports of entry. They were made up of 851 878 South African residents and 2 513 833 foreign travellers.

 
Foreign arrivals, 1 279 297 were made up of 85 148 non-visitors and 1 194 149 visitors.
The visitors were broken down as follows:

• 433 400 who arrived and departed on the same day, and
• 760 749 who stayed overnight (tourists).
  

Tourists increased by 11,0% from 685 407 in May 2015.

They were constituted as follows:

• Overseas tourists, who increased by 16,2% from 138 258 in May 2015 to 160 627 in May 2016.
          o The highest increase, 49,9% was for tourists from China (from 5 501 in May 2015 to 8 247 in May 2016), followed by India, 36,7% (from 10 414 in May 2015 to 14 237 in May 2016).
• Tourists from SADC, who increased by 9,4% from 533 361 in May 2015 to 583 480 in May 2016.
          o The highest increase, 25,5% was for tourists from Lesotho (from 117 318 in May 2015 to 147 177 in May 2016), followed by Malawi, 22,0% (from 9 568 in May 2015 to 11 676 in May 2016).
• Tourists from 'other' African countries, who increased by 23,2% from 12 594 in May 2015 to 15 517 in May 2016.
         o The highest increase, 41,0% was for tourists from Senegal (from 178 in May 2015 to 251 in May 2016, followed by Nigeria, 38,6% (from 4 315 in May 2015 to 5 991 in May 2016).
• 1 125 tourists, whose country of origin was unspecified.
  

About three-quarters (568 604) of tourists used road transport and a quarter (191 988) used air transport, while a much smaller number, 157 (0,02%) used  sea transport.
The majority of tourists, 732 436 (96,3%) were on holiday compared to 23 225 (3,1%) and 5 088 (0,7%) who came for business and for study purposes respectively.
Tourists were made up of 433 180 (56,9%) males and 327 569 (43,1%) females.