Tourism Reaches Pre-recession Levels

Tourism worldwide is back on par with levels pre-economic recession and South Africa has seen positive growth in 2010 as expected with the hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. This was the message from both SA Tourism and the National Department of Tourism (NDT) in a briefing yesterday.

The results of a survey by the NDT and South African Tourism (SAT) on the impact of the World Cup show that in addition to the 309 000 tourists arriving in South Africa for the primary purpose of attending the World Cup, a R3.6 billion injection went into economy in terms of spend.

“The results of this comprehensive study of the impact of the World Cup show us that more than 309 000 foreign tourists (309 554) arrived in South Africa for the primary purpose of attending the World Cup. Of these arrivals, 38% were from our continent, followed by 24% from Europe, 13% from Central and South America and 11% from North America,” Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced.

He noted that in terms of land arrivals from within the continent, the top three source markets were Mozambique (24 483), Swaziland (19 593) and Botswana (16 387). In terms of air arrivals, the top three markets were Nigeria (4 324), Ghana (3 578) and Kenya (2 089). The top three European source markets were the UK (22 802), the Netherlands (8 741) and Germany (8 596).

The arrivals from the United States topped more than 30 000, and had more than 12 000 arrivals from Australia. In terms of Central and South America, the top three markets were Brazil (14 815), Mexico (9 680) and Argentina (8 757).

“The World Cup also attracted a large number of first time visitors to South Africa, particularly from the Americas (North, Central and South America). A total of 59% of arrivals to South Africa for the World Cup were first time visitors to this country,” Minister van Schalkwyk said.

Source: SA Tourism Update