IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In December 2018, 4 735 894 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa’s ports of entry. They were made up of 1 475 699 South African residents and 3 260 195 foreign travellers.

Foreign arrivals, 1 594 112 were made up of 78 764 non-visitors and 1 515 348 visitors.

The visitors were broken down as follows:

• 508 193 who arrived and departed on the same day, and
• 1 007 155 who stayed overnight (tourists).

Tourists increased by 1,6%, from 991 579 in December 2017 to 1 007 155 in December 2018,

They were constituted as follows:

• Overseas tourists (259 403), who decreased by 0,9% from 261 728 in December 2017. Despite the overall decrease, tourism for specific countries increased.
• The highest increase, 5,2% was for tourists from Sweden (from 8 527 in December 2017 to 8 967 in December 2018), followed by those from Germany , who increased by 2,4% (from 32 560 in December 2017 to 33 328 in December 2018).
• Tourists from SADC (730 401), who increased by 2,2% from 714 389 in December 2017.
• The highest increase, 17,0% was for tourists from DRC (from 4 117 in December 2017 to 4 815 in December 2018), followed by those from Zimbabwe, who increased by 8,4% (from 209 479 in December 2017 to 227 162 in December 2018).
• Tourists from 'other' African countries (16 102), who increased by 11,3% from 14 461 in December 2017.
• The highest increase, 327,7% was for tourists from Somalia (from 47 in December 2017 to 201 in December 2018) , followed by those from Kenya, who increased by 30,5% (from 2 642 in December 2017 to 3 449 in December 2018).
• 1 249 tourists, whose country of origin were unspecified.

The majority of tourists, 691 170 (68,6%) used road transport and 313 470 (31,1%) used air transport, while a smaller number, 2 515 (0,2%) used sea transport.

The majority of tourists, 990 438 (98,3%) were on holiday compared to 13 447 (1,3%); 2 873 (0,3%) and 397 (less than 0,1%) who were in South Africa for business, study purposes and for medical treatment respectively. Tourists were made up of 531 967 (52,8%) males and 475 188 (47,2%) females.