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South Africa tourism is booming

Catherine Deshayes

The first five months of this year saw a huge influx of tourists visiting South Africa, with the tally hitting the four million mark, according to Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

During the 1990s, South Africa came out of the political wilderness and since then Government policy has been firmly committed to encouraging foreign investment by bringing in policies to ease the way for property investors.

The United Nations World Tourism Barometer showed South Africa's tourist numbers to have grown by 9 per cent last year, which represented over 30 per cent of all arrivals in Africa.

The weaker rand (South African currency), has also benefited the country as it appears to offer international investors good value for money.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates that in 2007, South Africa's travel and tourism industry posted US$ 31.2bn and is expected to grow to US$ 60bn per annum by 2017.  

Interest in the country is also being boosted as it will be hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2009 Lions Tours.

The foreign arrival figures for the beginning of this year have shown strong growth in tourism.

Mr Van Schalkwyk said, "There was positive growth from Europe and arrivals from the Americas had shown consistent annual growth since 2002.

"From January to May this year there were over 26,000 more visitors arriving from America, bringing the total figure to 161,550 for the region, including Canada.

"Arrivals from Brazil, a market on which South African tourism is increasingly concentrating, rose by 19 per cent, to 14,432 arrivals.

"Compared to the figure of less than 600,000 foreign visitors in 1994, the long-term growth we have seen is truly something to celebrate," Mr Van Schalkwyk added.

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