Overseas tourist arrivals to South Africa were up 2% year on year for the month of July, showing growth for the first time this year, while total tourist arrivals were up 1%, also showing growth for the first time this year. Arrivals from the UK were up 17% from 25 120 in July 2014 to 29 486 in July this year.
This is according to the latest tourist arrival stats released by Statistics South Africa this week.
SA received 162 733 overseas tourists in July compared with 159 368 for the same period last year. This follows a 13% year-on-year decline for the month of June. However, year to date, overseas arrivals are down 9%. It is worth mentioning that tourist arrivals dropped 4% in July 2014, a decline that was attributed to the beginning of the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.
Arrivals from Europe were up 6% year on year in July, with Denmark and Ireland showing an increase in arrivals of 20% and 15% respectively.
However, while arrivals from the UK are up, arrivals from Germany and the US – which together with the UK form the top three source markets – continued to show a decline. Arrivals from Germany were down 5% and arrivals from the US were down 1% for July year on year. These two markets are down 9% and 7% year to date.
Arrivals from China and India also continued to decline, dropping 19% and 2% respectively for July year on year.
In the next few days, Tourism Update will bring you more highlights from the July statistics.
