5.5m tourists visited SA

Tue, 04 Nov 2008

Almost 5.5 million foreigners visited South Africa in the first seven months of this year, a 7.8 percent increase year on year, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Monday.

"I am proud to announce the latest available arrival figures that show a total of almost 5.5 million foreign arrivals (5 495 904) in the first seven months of this year, compared to just over 5.1 million (5 100 268) in 2007," he said at the seventh annual tourism conference in Johannesburg.

"This is an increase of 7.8 percent year on year. If we examine the figures for January to July of this year in more detail, we see that the growth in arrivals from our traditional markets remains strong, boosted by very positive increases in arrivals from our new markets."

Van Schalkwyk said arrivals from North America increased by 11.7 percent in the first seven months this year compared to last year.

European arrivals grew by 7.3 percent with France recording an increase of 16.8 percent.

Arrivals from Australasia grew by 10.9 percent and from Asia by 6.5 percent, said Van Schalkwyk.

South Africa received more than nine million foreign visitors in 2007, compared to fewer than 600 000 in 1994.

Tourism's contribution to South Africa's gross domestic product was estimated to have grown from R137.6-billion in 2006 to R159.6-billion in 2007.

It created more than 940 000 jobs directly and indirectly in 2007, up by five percent compared to 2006.