Tourist arrivals in South Africa grew by 5.1 per cent during the first six months of 2013 as compared to last year. This was on top of the growth of 10.5 per cent recorded last year during the same period. We have thus consolidated the significant gains achieved in 2010-2012 on the back of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, and have further increased the baseline to reach an historic high of 4 642 217 international tourist arrivals for the first two quarters of the year. Over a four year period, we have averaged 9.4 per cent compound annual growth for the first half of the year, despite ever increasing global competition, tough trading conditions in some of our source markets and the fluctuating Rand.
“Tourism arrivals to South Africa continue to grow in 2013, with growth in arrivals recorded from all regions. Our growth is in line with global averages for the period. According the UNWTO, growth in global tourist arrivals was 5.2 per cent during the first six months of 2013,” said Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Tourism, South Africa.
Asian growth figures for the first six months of 2013 showed growth of 12.7 per cent to 210 776 tourist arrivals compared to 186 981 tourist arrivals during the same period in 2012. Arrivals from China grew by 23.9 per cent and India by 11 per cent during this period.
