IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In May 2017, 3 334 881 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa's ports of entry. They were made up of 874 240 South African residents and 2 460 641 foreign travellers.

Foreign arrivals, 1 249 433 were made up of 82 149 non-visitors and 1 167 284 visitors.
The visitors were broken down as follows:

• 400 225 who arrived and departed on the same day, and
• 767 059 who stayed overnight (tourists).

Tourists increased by 0,8% from 760 749 in May 2016. They were constituted as follows:

• Overseas tourists (171 417), who increased by 6,7% from 160 627 in May 2016.
  
• The highest increase, 103,2% was for tourists from Brazil (from 2 339 in May 2016 to 4 754 in May 2017), followed by France, 39,7% (from 8 659 in May 2016 to 12 093 in May 2017).
• Tourists from SADC (580 982), who decreased by 0,4% from 583 480 in May 2016.
• The highest increase, 19,6% was for tourists from Angola (from 3 029 in May 2016 to 3 624 in May 2017), followed by Malawi, 10,5% (from 11 676 in May 2016 to 12 904 in May 2017).
• Tourists from ''other'' African countries (13 615), who decreased by 12,3% from 15 517 in May 2016.
• The highest increase, 12,2% was for tourists from Uganda (from 1 068 in May 2016 to 1 198 in May 2017, followed by Ethiopia, 10,6% (from 679 in May 2016 to 751 in May 2017).
• 1 045 tourists, whose country of origin were unspecified.

About three quarters, 563 305 (73,4%) of tourists used road transport and about one quarter, 203 577 (26,5%) used air transport, while a smaller number, 177 (less than 0,1%) used sea transport.

The majority of tourists, 739 961 (96,5%) were on holiday compared to 21 931 (2,9%) and 5 167 (0,7%) who came for business and for study purposes respectively. Tourists were made up of 439 744 (57,3%) males and 327 315 (42,7%) females.