South Africa sees a million overseas arrivals from January to June

Tourists touch down in South Africa

This past January to June, overseas arrivals in South Africa exceeded the one million mark. This is according to the latest international tourism report from Statistics South Africa, which showed the country had not yet fully recovered its pre-pandemic numbers.

As per Tourism Update, South Africa reached 1.064 million arrivals in the first half of the year, just 85% of the 1.25m overseas arrivals recorded in the first half of 2019.

The stats revealed that overseas arrivals were up by 8.2% when compared to the first half of 2023 with the top source markets of Europe and the United States showing increases of 5.6% and 7.5% respectively.

Arrivals from Central and South America also grew by 92.5% to 36 699 with increases of 12.8% and 7.8% from Asia (107 557 arrivals) and Australasia (54 831) respectively.

São Paulo-Cape Town flights bring in big tourism numbers

South American arrivals in particular, were driven in by South African Airway’s (SAA) successful launch of flights between São Paulo and both Cape Town and Johannesburg in October and November last year.

SAA Spokesperson, Khaya Buthelezi said that around 16 800 passengers had made their way to and from Brazil during the first 90 days of of the airline operating the new route.

“According to the tourism authorities in the Western Cape, for the first three months following the inaugural flight from Cape Town, there has been a 370% increase in two-way passenger traffic between Cape Town and Brazil. These numbers speak volumes regarding the latent demand between the two destinations,” Buthelezi said.

South African Tourism’s Regional General Manager: Americas, Dinky Malikane also added that they were highly optimistic and delighted by the substantial increase in travellers from Brazil.

“Arrivals from Brazil experienced a 149% rise from January to April this year when compared with the same period in 2023. This uptick signifies a robust recovery of the Brazilian market post-pandemic, driven by strategic marketing efforts and the reintroduction of direct flights,” Malikane said as per Tourism Update.