IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In October 2018, 3 512 296 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa's ports of entry. They were made up of 955 964 South African residents and 2 556 332 foreign travellers.

Foreign arrivals, 1 323 652 were made up of 81 132 non-visitors and 1 242 520 visitors.

The visitors were broken down as follows:

• 380 474 who arrived and departed on the same day, and
• 862 046 who stayed overnight (tourists).

They were constituted as follows:

• Overseas tourists (253 945), who decreased by 4,9% from 267 025 in October 2017. Despite the overall decrease, tourism for specific countries increased:
  o The highest increase, 1,4% was for tourists from China (from 9 076 in October 2017 to 9 204 in October 2018), followed by USA, which increased by 1,1% (from 29 328 in October 2017 to 29 650 in October 2018).
• Tourists from SADC (593 052), who decreased by 0,7% from 597 424 in October 2017. However, tourism from some countries from SADC increased as follows:
  o The highest increase, 36,6% was for tourists from Angola (from 3 407 in October 2017 to 4 654 in October 2018), followed by Zimbabwe, which increased by 8,6% (from 155 949 in October 2017 to 169 316 in October 2018).
• Tourists from 'other' African countries (13 870), who decreased by 3,8% from 14 411 in October 2017. Tourism from some countries increased however, as follows:
  o The highest increase, 164,6% was for tourists from Somalia (from 79 in October 2017 to 209 in October 2018) , followed by Kenya, which increased by 17,3% (from 2 105 in October 2017 to 2 470 in October 2018).
• 1 179 tourists, whose country of origin were unspecified.

Road transport was used by 581 215 (67,4%) of tourists, air transport was used by 280 229 (32,5%) tourists, while sea transport was used by a smaller number of tourists, 602 (0,1%).
The majority of tourists, 832 961 (96,6%) were on holiday  compared to 23 455 (2,7%); 5 032 (0,6%) and 598 (0,1%) who were in South Africa for business, study purposes and for medical treatment, respectively. Tourists were made up of 476 734 (55,3%) males and 385 312 (44,7%) females.
The median age of tourists from overseas was 48 years, while that of tourists from SADC and 'other' African countries was 36 and 37 years, respectively.