Tourism is making a sustained recovery, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the latest figures on tourist arrivals show the industry is making a strong and sustained comeback.

After the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to the local tourism industry, Ramaphosa said statistics from Stats SA and South African Tourism recently released by tourism minister Patricia de Lille show nearly 5.7-million visitors graced the country's shores last year.

“This was an increase of more than 150% on the previous year. In the first quarter of this year, we received just over two million visitors, more than twice as many compared to the same period in 2022,” said Ramaphosa.

In his weekly newsletter, the president said although tourist arrivals are not yet at pre-pandemic levels, the latest figures show a significant and rapid recovery is under way.

“This is taking place in the midst of heightened political and economic uncertainty across the world and particular challenges, especially around electricity supply, here at home. Yet, despite these difficult conditions, visitors see South Africa as an attractive destination with unparalleled natural beauty, warm and hospitable people and good value,” he said.

Ramaphosa said the potential of the tourism industry was evident at Africa’s Travel Indaba in eThekwini earlier this month.

“The Travel Indaba is one of the largest tourism marketing events on the continent and regularly attracts high numbers of exhibitors, marketing bodies and representatives from hotels, airlines and tour operators and media from Africa and the rest of the world.”

The president said the country was able to showcase the great variety of South Africa's tourism products to give further impetus to recovery. 

“Of the exhibitors at the Indaba, more than 120 were small local tourism enterprises supported by government to display their unique products and services, expand their networks and foster partnerships,”  he said.

Ramaphosa said this is part of the country's commitment to nurturing small operators in the sector to encourage transformation and the creation of jobs. 

“Not only are we seeing more tourists coming to our shores, they are also spending more during their visits, or more than R25bn in the first quarter of 2023. This is a valuable stream of foreign exchange, sustaining and creating jobs and enabling further investment in our tourism infrastructure,” he said.

The president said the release of the figures during Africa Month is particularly encouraging given that most visitors to South Africa in 2022, about 4-million, were from the continent.

“Travellers from the region and the broader continent are increasingly seeing South Africa as a premier tourism destination and are flocking here to experience our natural wonders and spend money at South African businesses.”

Ramaphosa said the importance of growing tourism for the economy motivated the determination to forge ahead with the process of immigration reform to improve competitiveness as a tourism destination. 

“At this year’s fifth South Africa Investment Conference, I announced we will be expanding the e-Visa system from the 14 countries in which it operates to include an additional 20 countries. There are obviously linkages between tourists visiting a country and potential future trade and investment,” he said.

Ramaphosa said the department of home affairs published its visa reform implementation plan which will help boost tourism and attract investment, adding the recovery of South Africa’s aviation sector is also supporting tourism growth. 

“SAA is expanding into ever more markets on the continent, and we are seeing the resumption of direct flights from major destinations. By way of example, Air China has resumed direct flights to South Africa, and United Airlines flies directly to New York and Washington DC. 

“The latest tourism figures are very encouraging and should strengthen our resolve to ensure tourism becomes one of the biggest drivers of our economic recovery.”

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