IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In October 2016, 3 527 820 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa's ports of entry. They were made up of 925 796 South African residents and 2 602 024 foreign travellers.

Foreign arrivals, 1 336 973 were made up of 89 970 non-visitors and 1 247 003 visitors.

The visitors were broken down as follows:

• 396 047 who arrived and departed on the same day, and
• 850 956 who stayed overnight (tourists).
  

Tourists increased by 13,7% from 748 561 in October 2015.

They were constituted as follows: 

• Overseas tourists, who increased by 20,5% from 208 020 in October 2015.
  o The highest increase, 30,0% was for tourists from Germany (from 31 158 in October 2015 to 40 492 in October 2016), whereas Australia had the smallest increase of 2,1% (from 8 250 in October 2015 to 8 422 in October 2016).
• Tourists from SADC, who increased by 10,9% from 525 305 in October 2015.
  o The highest increase, 39,1% was for tourists from Lesotho (from 105 400 in October 2015 to 146 591 in October 2016), whereas Mozambique showed the smallest increase of 1,2% (from 99 216 in October 2015 to 97 978 in October 2016).
• Tourists from 'other' African countries, who increased by 19,8% from 14 073 in October 2015.
  o The highest increase, 51,4% was for tourists from Uganda (from 913 in October 2015 to 1 382 in October 2016, Whereas Congo showed the smallest increase of 2,2% (from 279 in October 2015 to 285 in October 2016).
• 1 039 tourists, whose country of origin were unspecified.

About two thirds, 574 138 (67,5%) of tourists used road transport and about a third, 276 564 (32,5%) used air transport, while a much smaller number, 254 (0,03%) used sea transport.

The majority of tourists, 820 535 (96,4%) were on holiday compared to 24 143 (2,8%) and 6 278 (0,7%) who came for business and for study purposes respectively. Tourists were made up of 475 126 (55,8%) males and 375 830 (44,2%) females.