With effort, South Africa can grow annual arrivals from the UK by 10%, an increase of roughly 40 000 tourists per year, says Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom.
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Speaking to Tourism Update at WTM London this week and commenting on the 17% year-on-year growth this market showed in July, Hanekom said: “We are absolutely delighted that the July figures are so impressively and unexpectedly up.
“The message out here is that we very much appreciate the UK market and it is of enormous value to us,” said Hanekom pointing out that the UK, SA’s biggest source market, had shown resilience. “Over the last six months when generally we have had a downward trend and many markets have been in quite worrying decline, although the growth in the UK market is not what we would have liked it to have been, at least there was modest growth.”
According to Hanekom, while it would take time to recapture the lost ground in the market, he is positive this can be achieved. “The signs are good,” he said. “We really value this market. We think it is incredibly important – our biggest single source market and it’s a very reliable market. Even when there are challenges, the numbers remain high. With serious effort, we can have these numbers increase significantly.”
Tourism Update attended the WTM London as the guest of SA Tourism.
