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Top 10 Overseas Countries Visiting South Africa

The number of tourists to South Africa has increased in the past year, and Germany has knocked the UK off the number one spot of the country whose tourists visit SA the most, according to the latest Tourism and Migration report by Statistics SA (Stats SA). The Big 5 are: Germany, UK, USA, France and The […]

By SAPeople
20-12-16 14:06
in Fab South African Stuff

The number of tourists to South Africa has increased in the past year, and Germany has knocked the UK off the number one spot of the country whose tourists visit SA the most, according to the latest Tourism and Migration report by Statistics SA (Stats SA).

The UK is now in the number 2 spot. Source: OR Tambo International Airport

The Big 5 are: Germany, UK, USA, France and The Netherlands with China, Australia, Switzerland, India and Belgium trailing behind. Tourism from each of those countries increased to SA.

Looking at the month of October 2016, compared to October 2015, the report – released on Monday – found that:

Top 10 Countries Visiting South Africa from Overseas

  • Overseas tourists increased by 20,5%
  • The highest increase, 30,0% was for tourists from Germany (over 40,000 in October 2016) although that figure’s still nowhere near as many tourists as from neighbouring countries in southern Africa (see below).
  • 98% of Germany’s visitors were holiday makers.
  • Australia (with 8,422 visitors in Oct 2016) had the smallest increase of 2,1%.
  • While the UK no longer holds the top spot, its tourists did increase by 14% to 39,696.
  • The US stayed in third place with an 8% growth in tourists to 27,583.
  • France at fourth place experienced a 22% jump in tourist numbers to 19,009 people.

Tourists from Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries

  • Tourists from SADC, increased by 10,9% from 525 305 in October 2015.
  • Tourists from Lesotho increased most notably – 39.1% to 145,591 in October 2016.
  • Mozambique showed the smallest increase of 1,2% (to 97,978 in October 2016).

Tourists from ‘Other’ African Countries

  • Tourists from ‘other’ African countries, increased by 19,8%.
  • The highest increase, 51,4% was for tourists from Uganda (from 913 in October 2015 to 1,382 in October 2016).
  • Congo showed the smallest increase of 2,2% (from 279 in October 2015 to 285 in October 2016).

In general, the report found that tourists increased by 13,7%. 

In October 2016, over 3 million travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through South Africa’s ports of entry – made up of just under a million South African residents and over 2.6 million foreign travellers.

The majority of tourists, 820,535 (96,4%) were on holiday compared to 2,8% who came for business and 0,7% who came for study purposes.

And apparently more men are attracted to South African than women! Tourists in October 2016 were made up of 475,126 (55,8%) males and 375,830 (44,2%) females.