IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In September 2016, 3 416 002 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa’s ports of entry. They were made up of 907 552 South African residents and 2 508 450 foreign travellers.
Foreign arrivals, 1 273 734 were made up of 82 934 non-visitors and 1 190 800 visitors.

The visitors were broken down as follows:

• 397 190 who arrived and departed on the same day, and
• 793 610 who stayed overnight (tourists).
  Tourists increased by 10,7% from 716 750 in September 2015.

They were constituted as follows:

• Overseas tourists, who increased by 18,1% from 166 053 in September 2015.
•  The highest increase, 28,8% was for tourists from The Netherlands (from 9 168 in September 2015 to 11 808 in September 2016), followed by Germany, 25,6% (from 18 375 in September  2015 to 23 085 in September 2016).
• Tourists from SADC, who increased by 8,7% from 534 815 in September 2015.
• The highest increase, 27,7% was for tourists from Lesotho (from 107 998 in September 2015 to 137 932 in September 2016), followed by Malawi, 19,1% (from 12 136 in September 2015 to 14 457 in September 2016).
•  Tourists from ‘other’ African countries, who increased by 3,3% from 14 810 in September 2015.
•  The highest increase, 82,4% was for tourists from Algeria (from 142 in September 2015 to 259 in September 2016, followed by Ethiopia, 40,0% (from 613 in September 2015 to 858 in September 2016).
• 964 tourists, whose country of origin were unspecified.

About three-quarters, 568 750 (71,7%) of tourists used road transport and more than quarter 224 563 (28,3%) used air transport, while a much smaller number, 297  (0,04%) used sea transport.

The majority of tourists, 767 279 (96,7%) were on holiday compared to 20 400 (2,6%) and 5 931 (0,7%) who came for business and for study purposes respectively. Tourists were made up of 441 263 (55,6%) males and 352 347 (44,4%) females.