Tourism is one of our fastest growing industries and is still in its infancy
Since 1994 the amount of money spent annually by tourists in South Africa has risen by 15% a year. This growth is well in excess of any Rand weakness and suggests that although the weaker Rand has helped to boost foreign travel receipts , this has not been the main driver of the growth in tourism.
A number of factors have combined to help boost South Africa’s tourism inflows over the past 20 years. These factors include a global increase in foreign travel (especially from Asia and Africa), South Africa’s proven ability to host major global sporting events, the country’s inclusion in the G20 as well as the BRICS which has raised its global profile, the country’s excellent game parks and nature reserves, and the fact that in November 2011, Table Mountain in Cape Town was voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.
A host nation
South Africa has hosted numerous global sporting events since 1994, including the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the 1996 African Nations Cup, the 2003 Cricket World Cup and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
However, it is the successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup that highlights South Africa’s ability to plan, coordinate, build and organise a major international event. After the event, FIFA stated that ‘hosting the event in South Africa proved to be a huge success’. Critics had feared that the country’s high crime rate and lack of public transportation would undermine the soccer world championship, but these concerns simply never materialised.
In an independent assessment, 83% of the visiting international soccer fans surveyed expressed an intention to return to the country, while 94% said they would happily recommend South Africa as a tourist destination to their friends and family.
In May, June and July 2010, the number of foreign visitors to South Africa (specifically people arriving by air) amounted to an impressive 1.062 million. Obviously, not all of these people arrived in the country to attend the World Cup. However, in the same three-month period a year earlier, South Africa attracted only 555 000 foreign visitors. Even adjusting for the fact that world travel had slumped significantly in 2009 due to the global recession, it is fair to conclude that the World Cup significantly boosted South African tourism at the time of the event. More importantly, since the end of 1993, the country’s tourism proceeds have risen by over 1 600%, admittedly off a relatively low base.
2014 beats even the World Cup inflows
Although tourism fell sharply in the year after the World Cup mostly due to a weak global economy, recent years have seen tourism improving dramatically.
In the first quarter of 2014, tourists spent an impressive R96.5 billion. This is easily the highest level ever recorded, and far exceeds the level of travel receipts achieved during the year of the soccer World Cup, which was R66.4 billion.
Despite these successes, South Africa’s level of tourism is still relatively small compared with the global average, but remains a potential and important source of growth for the country since it is a relatively labour intensive industry. With such great foundation work done by these success factors, the South African travel and tourism industry is poised to be become one of our greatest sources of income in the coming years.
