IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In December 2017, 4 639 848 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa's ports of entry. They were made up of 1 397 631 South African residents and 3 242 217 foreign travellers.

Foreign arrivals, 1 561 724 were made up of 82 894 non-visitors and 1 478 830 visitors.
The visitors were broken down as follows:

• 487 251 who arrived and departed on the same day, and
• 991 579 who stayed overnight (tourists).

They were constituted as follows:

• Overseas tourists (261 728), who increased by 0,8% from 259 724 in December 2016.
• The highest increase, 25,1% was for tourists from Brazil (from 6 473 December 2016 to 8 096 in December 2017), followed by India, 22,2% (from 6 581 in December 2016 to 8 039 in December 2017).
• Tourists from SADC (714 389), who increased by 3,7% from 688 599 in December 2016.
• The highest increase, 54,4% was for tourists from Angola (from 4 723 in December 2016 to 7 293 in December 2017), followed by Mozambique, 10,8 (from 101 420 in December 2016 to 112 326 in December 2017).
• Tourists from 'other' African countries (14 461), who decreased by 7,9% from 15 698 in December 2016.
• The highest increase, 13,4% was for tourists from Egypt (from 620 in December 2016 to 703 in December 2017) , followed by Cameroon, 10,6% (from 350 in December 2016 to 387 in December 2017).
• 1 001 tourists, whose country of origin were unspecified.

Over two third, 682 237 (68,8%) of tourists used road transport and close to one third, 308 867 (31,1%) used air transport, while a smaller number, 475 (less than 0,1%) used sea transport.

The majority of tourists, 975 522 (98,4%) were on holiday compared to 13 109 (1,3%) and 2 948 (0,3%) who came for business and for study purposes respectively. Tourists were made up of 521 933 (52,6 %) males and 469 646 (47,4%) females.