IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In September 2017, 3 551 761 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa's ports of entry. They were made up of 981 616 South African residents and 2 570 145 foreign travellers.

Foreign arrivals, 1 300 502 were made up of 80 133 non-visitors and 1 220 369 visitors.
The visitors were broken down as follows:
 

• 387 291 who arrived and departed on the same day, and
• 833 078 who stayed overnight (tourists).

 
Tourists increased by 5,0% from 793 610 in September 2016.

They were constituted as follows:

• Overseas tourists (208 720), who increased by 6,4% from 196 098 in September 2016.
• The highest increase, 60,4% was for tourists from Brazil (from 3 425 September 2016 to 5 493 in September 2017), followed by France, 51,1% (from 8 673 in September 2016 to 13 102 in September 2017).
• Tourists from SADC (608 003), who increased by 4,6% from 581 252 in September 2016.
•  The highest increase, 16,8% was for tourists from Mozambique (from 94 207 in September 2016 to 110 076 in September 2017), followed by Malawi, 9,8% (from 14 457 in September 2016 to 15 873 in September 2017).
  
• Tourists from 'other' African countries (15 057), who decreased by 1,6% from 15 296 in September 2016.
• The highest increase, 20,0% was for tourists from Cote d'Ivoire (from 175 in September 2016 to 210 in September 2017) , followed by Cameroon, 14,1% (from 376 in September 2016 to 429 in September 2017).
• 1 298 tourists, whose country of origin were unspecified.

About three quarters, 595 604 (71,5%) of tourists used road transport and about one quarter, 237 361 (28,5%) used air transport, while a smaller number, 113 (less than 0,1%) used sea transport.

The majority of tourists, 805 389 (96,7%) were on holiday compared to 22 107 (2,7%) and 5 582 (0,7%) who came for business and for study purposes respectively. Tourists were made up of 462 048 (55,5%) males and 371 030 (44,5%) females.