Statistics South Africa released its latest statistics, revealing that the country’s tourism industry welcomed more than 4 million tourists in the first half of 2023, a growth of 78.2% compared to 2.3 million tourists, a year earlier.
Tourism minister Patricia De Lille said that even though there are indications of recovery, the country is still operating at only 80% of capacity before the pandemic.
South Africa welcomed over 5 million visitors between January and June 2019.
“We are pleased with the number of visitors that our country continues to receive from the rest of the African continent,” she said.
“This is a testament to the marketing efforts that we have implemented to attract tourists from this region.”
Africa remains the primary generator of international visitors to South Africa.
The country welcomed more than 3 million tourists from across the African continent from January to June 2023, a growth of 79.9% compared to last year's 1,7 million visitors from the region.
Europe, which is the main source of visitors outside Africa, also saw a remarkable increase of 66.8% in tourist arrivals.
The number of visitors skyrocketed from 356,352 to 594,388, compared to the equivalent period in 2022.
Strong growth trends were also observed in North America, Central and South America, and the Middle East, with rates of 70.6%, 74.4%, and 75.8% respectively.
The Australasia region (consisting primarily of Australia and New Zealand) saw a 141% increase in arrivals between January and June of 2023, with 50 882 visitors compared to 21 108 for the same period in 2022.
The number of visitors from the Asia region increased by 99.5%, from 47 912 to 95 558.
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