When days are dark, friends are few, but in South Africa, we’ll take all the good news we can get. 

Tourism has always been our saving grace and judging by this past December, there’s been a sizeable rebound in tourism, with almost three million travellers passing through our borders — a third of whom are classified as residents of the country. 

The balance comprises about two million foreign travellers, who arrived here for tourism and other purposes.

This healthy bounce-back was reported on 31 January, during Stats SA’s latest data on tourist arrivals, which showed 2,881,887 travellers passed through South Africa’s ports in December 2022. Of those, 965,599 were resident in South Africa and 1,916,288 were foreign travellers.

There were 123.5% more South African residents arriving on our shores (up year-on-year from 182,489 in December 2021 to 407,837 in December 2022), 130% more departures and 225.4% transits. 

Foreign travellers came (and left) in droves: there were almost 180% more arrivals (a year-on-year increase from 347,188 to 971,425), 136% more departures and 175% transits.

Stats SA does not have detailed information on the departure of travellers, so it cannot categorise South African residents as tourists or non-tourists. However, it says 7.8% of foreigners arrived in the country as non-visitors, while 895,932 (92,2%) were classified as visitors.

From Lindiwe Sisulu, With Love: Inside SA Tourism’s R1bn proposal to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur

Cape Town back with a bang

That’s not a case of build them and they will come — or, as often is the case in South Africa, break them: The Western Cape has put a significant amount of effort and resources into marketing itself as a destination for business and leisure.

The jewel in its crown, the Mother City, is feeling particularly bullish about its recovery after Covid, announcing that it’s “within reach” of 2019’s figures: Cape Town International Airport saw a 72% increase in domestic visitors and a 98% increase in international visitors.

Tourism hotspots reported a welcome recovery, with Groot Constantia returning to 71% of 2019’s levels, Kirstenbosch 76%, Robben Island 89%, Chapman’s Peak 95% and Table Mountain almost 100%.

Eighty-five of Cape Town Tourism’s members reported much better performance than in 2019, as US, German and UK tourists returned with a vengeance.

The primary domestic markets were Cape Town, Gauteng and KwaZulu- Natal.

Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy said he was thrilled about the steady influx of visitors to the region: “It’s remarkable to see our collective efforts to restore our beautiful city’s international and domestic visitor performance to pre-pandemic levels paying off. 

“We’re grateful to the City of Cape Town, our Cape Town Tourism members and residents for sustaining our important sector so that our city remains the destination of choice in Africa.”

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations

Wesgro has also put in the hard yards, announcing that the Western Cape has secured R393-million in conference bids for events between 2022 and 2024, bringing in an estimated 20,000 delegates.

The secured conferences span medical, aviation, engineering, entrepreneurship, green economy, investment, manufacturing, veterinary science and tech.

Next week, the Mining Indaba — the world’s largest mining conference — will take place at the Cape Town International Conference Centre.

Such events were a welcome boost and crucial to job creation in the province, said Mireille Wenger, the Western Cape minister of finance and economic opportunities.

“We applaud Wesgro and the strides that have been made to keep Cape Town and the Western Cape on the map as a premium business events destination. Every visitor is a potential investor. We look forward to hosting delegates from around the globe — providing us with the opportunity to showcase the capabilities of our local industries spanning a wide range of sectors.”

Mayoral committee member for economic growth James Vos said business events are intrinsically linked to leisure tourism — creating a positive knock-on effect for local hotels, restaurants and attractions.

“I’m happy to say that the City of Cape Town, through my department, will fund the Convention Bureau. We extend a warm welcome to the delegates expected to visit the Mother City over the next few years, and encourage a return with family and friends to fully experience the rich experiences on offer in our city.” BM/DM