SA tourism lagging behind competitor destinations, statistics show

Posted by Tsoku Maela on 4 October 2022

The latest Tourism and Migration data released by StatsSA have shown signs of recovery for South Africa’s tourism and hospitality sector with visitors from top European markets. However, South Africa is still lagging behind continental averages.

SA tourism lagging behind competitor destinations, statistics show

The data shows a rise of 29% in overseas arrivals into the country for June 2022 compared to June 2019 and a rise of 63% compared to July 2019. As encouraging as the figures are, Federal Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (FEDHASA) national chairperson Rosemary Anderson says South Africa still needs to do more to keep up with competitor destinations in East Africa.

According to data on current and future arrivals into the country by global travel intelligence firm ForwardKeys, South Africa’s recovery is behind 2019 Q4 levels by 40%, while Kenya is only behind by just 15%. The global average is 38%.

‘We should be looking at what other destinations like those in East Africa are doing to supercharge their recovery,’ said Anderson. ‘It’s going to take an extraordinary effort and the concerted effort of both private and public sectors to make it. We have a unique window of opportunity as we head into one of our busiest times of the year to promote the destination in such a way that our international visitors see the value that South Africa offers.’

Picture: Unsplash

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