IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In July 2017, 3 710 937 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa's ports of entry. They were made up of 1 108 937 South African residents and 2 602 000 foreign travellers.

Foreign arrivals, 1 347 125 were made up of 85 207 non-visitors and 1 261 918 visitors.

The visitors were broken down as follows:

• 400 187 who arrived and departed on the same day, and
• 861 731 who stayed overnight (tourists).

Tourists increased by 4,8% from 822 416 in July 2016.

They were constituted as follows:

• Overseas tourists (206 737), who increased by 2,9% from 200 901 in July 2016.
  The highest increase, 81,4% was for tourists from Brazil (from 3 358 in July 2016 to 6 092 in July 2017), followed by Belgium, 18,6% (from 5 332 in July 2016 to 6 326 in July 2017).
• Tourists from SADC (640 193), who increased by 6,0% from 603 763 in July 2016.
  o The highest increase, 22,4% was for tourists from Malawi (from 13 414 in July 2016 to 16 423 in July 2017), followed by Mozambique, 22,2% (from 97 910 in July 2016 to 119 689 in July 2017).
• Tourists from 'other' African countries (13 792), who decreased by 17,4% from 16 691 in July 2016.
  o The highest increase, 13,1% was for tourists from Ghana (from 1 221 in July 2016 to 1 381 in July 2017) , followed by Ethiopia, 4,8% (from 757 in July 2016 to 793 in July 2017).
• 1 009 tourists, whose country of origin were unspecified.

About three quarters, 624 661 (72,5%) of tourists used road transport and about one quarter, 236 886 (27,5%) used air transport, while a smaller number, 184 (less than 0,1%) used sea transport.

The majority of tourists, 829 532 (96,3%) were on holiday compared to 20 264 (2,4%) and 11 935 (1,4%) who came for business and for study purposes respectively. Tourists were made up of 475 180 (55,1%) males and 386 551 (44,9%) females.