Tourist arrivals from Brazil, India and China showed a drastic decline in the last three months of 2014, when compared to the previous year, according to stats published by Statistics SA (Stats SA) this week, while overall overseas tourist arrivals also dropped.
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This last quarter coincides with the introduction of new regulations, which require that tourists apply in person for visas, as well as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Stats SA does not publish stats for Russia.
The Chinese market showed the biggest decline, dropping 53.1% from 27 122 arrivals in 2013 to 12 715 in 2014 between October and December. Numbers from Brazil dropped 29.4% from 12 343 to 8 717, while Indian arrivals dropped 15.4% from 22 567 to 19 099. In the last quarter, overall overseas tourist arrivals across all markets dropped 2.5% from 653 392 to 637 412.
Travel to South Africa also took a knock following the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, with reports projecting a slow down in bookings due to fear and misconceptions about the virus.
Year on year, arrivals from China dropped 24.7% from 110 035 in 2013 to 82 905 in 2014, arrivals from India dropped 8.5% from 93 583 to 85 639 and Brazil dropped 14.7% from 45 813 to 39 082.
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