Natalie Cowling
Research Expert South Africa
Tourism in South Africa - statistics & facts
On the African continent, South Africa ranks among the most popular countries for tourists. In 2020, the country was a destination to close to 3.8 million international tourists, making it the most visited in Africa that year. Millions of tourists annually visit South Africa to see its beaches, landscapes, and wildlife. As of 2024, the country housed the second largest number of UNESCO World Heritage sites on the African continent.As expected, the majority of those arriving in South Africa saw it as a holiday destination.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected the various sectors of the South African economy. The travel and tourism industry was among these sectors. For instance, the contribution of travel and tourism to the GDP in the country was a low 3.2 percent in 2021. This was a minor increase from 3.1 percent the previous year, which was the lowest GDP contribution from the travel and tourism sector since 2005. Similarly, the number of jobs in the travel and tourism sector increased slightly by almost 2 percent to 1.08 million jobs. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, which was first introduced in March 2020, the number of foreigners arriving in South Africa plunged to 29,341 in April 2020, compared to 863,232 one month prior. Although following an increasing trend, the number of foreigners reaching the country has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.A higher domestic tourist spending
In South Africa, the share of domestic tourist spending was higher than international tourist spending in both 2019 and 2020. With the lockdowns taking place, the percentage of foreign tourist spending shrank from 46 percent in 2019 to 33 percent in 2020. Accordingly, domestic expenditure contributed to two-thirds of the total tourist spending in 2020. On the other hand, the share of leisure spending increased by five percentage points in 2021, the opposite of business spending. In 2021, the highest contributors to the Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA) were non-tourism industries and accommodation, with around 54.8 billion South African rands (3.1 billion U.S. dollars) and 24.8 billion South African rands (1.4 billion U.S. dollars), respectively.Increasing accommodation availability and dropping occupancy rate
The availability of hotel rooms and similar establishments in the country has generally been on the rise since the beginning of the 21st century. In 2021, there were 69,500 rooms ready to house tourists. Nonetheless, only 23 percent of them were occupied. Previously, the share of inhabited tourist accommodation fluctuated between 57.7 percent in 2003 and 46.4 percent in 2010. The amount of income received from tourist accommodation in 2023 demonstrates promising signs of post-pandemic recovery as a gradually increasing trend was observed since 2020.
