Leisure travel from key source markets to South Africa showed good growth starting out in 2014. However this positive trend took a downturn in the latter part of the year, coinciding with the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa as well as the implementation of SA’s new immigration regulations in October.
[AdZone]
This is according to stats released by Statistics SA (Stats SA) last week.
Overseas arrivals were up 7% year on year in the first six months of 2014, but in the second half of the year they dipped 1%.
Leisure travel from the US and the UK both showed positive growth during the first six months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, at 7% and 6% respectively. This steady growth did not carry into the fourth quarter, where leisure arrivals dropped by 1% from the US when compared to the same period in 2013, while the UK experienced a growth of 3%.
Likewise, leisure travel from Germany seemed to be on the rise showing a 15% annual growth in the first six months of 2014. However, this slowed down considerably to an increase of 7% in the second half of last year. Notably, business arrival numbers from the German market also dropped by 6% during the last six months of 2014.
The Netherlands showed significant growth between January and March 2014, with both leisure and business travel increasing by 24% and 34% year on year. But in the last three months of 2014 this growth slowed to increases of 9% for leisure travel and 11% for business travel.
Leisure travel from the Canadian market also decreased in the last quarter of 2014 by 2% compared to 2013, while business travel dropped by 11.4%.
Leisure travel from emerging markets were hardest hit. From China, the leisure market dropped by 23% in 2014, owing mainly to a drop of 50% year on year in the last quarter of the year.
Similarly, arrivals from the Indian market dropped predominantly during the last three months of 2014, with a 16% decline in leisure travel and a 19% drop in business travel. Overall this market fell by 8.5% in 2014 compared to 2013.
Leisure travel is determined on the basis of travellers selecting “holiday” for purpose of visit.
Why have some markets shown overall growth, while othes have dipped? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
