Statistics SA has released its report on the country’s arrival stats for the month of March. Following from the trend of February, the month-on-month arrivals continue to grow.
Numbers from Germany have seen sustained growth with a 10% increase from their February numbers and a 13% increase compared to the same time last year. The UK and USA reflect similar, sustained growth.
The countries with the highest numbers are:
- UK (47 238)
- Germany (42 756)
- USA (33 529)
- France (19 058)
- Australia (9 949)
- Netherlands (9 781)
- Canada (7 031)
- China (7 029)
- India (6 769)
- Brazil (5 363)
Despite the overall growth, only five of the top ten performing countries saw growth from March 2017 to March 2018:
- Germany (13%)
- Australia (12%)
- UK (5%)
- USA (2%)
- Canada (1%)
Despite not making the top ten, the smaller markets of Belgium, Ireland and the Philippines grew considerably. Israel and Argentina have also shown sustained progress, both growing from their numbers this time last year, with Argentina continuing to soar at a remarkable 43% year to date growth.
In March, Tourism Update announced that El Al is increasing frequency between Tel-Aviv and Johannesburg to five flights a week, commencing in October. This is possibly in response to the growing demand for air access into South Africa by Israeli visitors, evident by sustained arrivals numbers.
The key markets of India and China both saw month-on-month losses, with the Chinese numbers revealing a 16% slump from the same time last year.
In addition to these drops from key markets, other markets that previously showed positive growth, such as Portugal, are also showing fewer arrivals. Tourism Update reported a decline in arrivals from the Mediterranean country in February, and the March numbers reflect a similar drop. Numbers fell to 3 341 people in March, up slightly from February, but still reflecting an overall decline of 14% from the same time last year.
Visitor numbers from SADC countries continue to grow, with a 12% month-on-month increase. Zimbabwe tops the group once again, followed by Botswana and Mozambique. Continuing the February trend, Seychelles’ numbers continue to drop, coming out at 575 visitors in March.
Countries in the Nordic region of Europe have proved to be an emerging market for South Africa. Sweden, Norway and Denmark all show persistent increases in their numbers. This graph reflects that these numbers took a knock last year, in keeping with the overall poor performance of the tourism industry in 2017, but have recovered well. Norway’s numbers have jumped 45% from the same time last year.
