“The South African Tourism sector is positioned for a wonderful bounce back and positive growth after the first half of the year (2022) numbers indicate a spectacular 147% in arrivals reaching an impressive 2,285,746,” said Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Tourism, in a statement to the media today.
During a media event in Johannesburg, Sisulu gave a presentation on domestic and international tourism performance from January to June 2022. We are especially happy that the arrivals from the Americas, which accounted for 128,991 arrivals, grew by 331%, Sisulu stated.
The Minister stated that despite external shocks like the turmoil in Ukraine, Europe remains South Africa’s primary foreign market and that it “had the most notable percentage rise in arrivals of 563.”
She asserts that our primary source of revenue is the African land market, which has experienced tremendous expansion and dwarfed the numbers of immigrants from Europe and the United States. “The African air market brought in 1,634,244 arrivals,” she continued.
In the domestic market, where 15.2 million domestic trips were made between January and June 2022, tourism is on a dramatic increasing trajectory. As a result of this figure is greater than pre-pandemic levels, the minister called it “a big win for the tourist sector” and “indicates that South Africa’s domestic tourism sector has also seen a vengeance travel trend.”
The percentage of holiday travel has climbed by 23.8% when compared to the same period in 2021, and the average cost has surged to 28.6, according to Sisulu.
The Minister stated that as a general rule, you need to have “A robust domestic market because it is a magic bullet that transforms locals into storytellers and advocates of their country.
According to the performance report, South Africans spend R 2,850 on domestic travel. The Minister claimed that “the biggest driver of domestic travel in the first half of 2022 was the removal of Covid-19 travel limitations.”
The statistics for international airlifts are also improving quite a bit. The largest airline, Airlink, which has seen its tickets rise by 7%, has a seating capacity that is only 61% of what it was in 2019. There has been a constant increase in seat capacity worldwide, she added.
The fact that “75% of seat capacity in South Africa is on Johannesburg lines” is what she found most astounding. The main source route, Qatar, saw a 71% increase in seat capacity on the routes to Johannesburg. She claimed that Emirates had an amazing 1.2 million seats in Cape Town.
Additionally, she added, “Durban King Shaka International Airport is outperforming its competition with a 150% rise from 2021 representing 4% of all seats. The Durban lines, which were the longest in the area, “increased with Emirates seats up over 400%,” she continued.
Also in 2022, Kruger had 23,100 seats, which represented less than 1% of all seats on foreign routes. According to the tourism performance report, there are two airlines operating on the route: Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Airlink from Livingstone.
In August, “ahead bookings soared by 328% (85,960),” according to the minister. Notably, “There was a 287% increase from August to October” (187,667). Bookings increased by 227% (294,220) from August to January 2023, she noted.
“We will continue to intensify targeted communication on our digital platforms to sell South Africa as a destination of choice, inviting the world to come and “Live Again” with us,” she concluded.
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