Lara Hodes at Investec looked at the recovery of the South African tourism industry, which was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The tourist accommodation industry’s income grew by 5.1% when measured on a month-on-month seasonally adjusted (mmsa) basis for December, compared to -2.8% mmsa before (nominal terms).
Receipts from the accommodation industry were at R2,128.6 million (seasonally adjusted, current prices), which is close to pre-pandemic levels.
Hotel occupancy levels also rose by over 40% in December – when seasonally adjusted.
Data from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) said that over 2.8 million travellers went through South Africa’s ports of entry/exit during December, with domestic and international travellers flocking to tourist hotspots.
Data-wise, it represents a 37.7% month-on-month (m-o-m) increase and a 146.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase.
When looking at tourist numbers solely, there was a 157.6% annual increase and a 19.8% month-on-month (m-o-m) lift for December. For the whole of 2022, tourist arrivals climbed by 152.6% y-o-y.
International visitor numbers saw a major increase, rising by 284.0% y-o-y.
Travellers from Europe made the largest share (62.1%), with thousands of tourists coming from the UK (283,031), Germany (173,146), Netherlands (90,289), and France (76,077).
The number of travellers from other African nations also rose by 126.2% for the whole of 2022, with the majority coming from SADC countries.
Tourism challenges
Tourism remains a key growth area for South Africa and can lead to significant job creation across South Africa.
Upgrading ageing or damaged infrastructure, addressing crime and reducing red tape (amongst others) remain key and are essential to attract investment into the sector and entice travellers, Hodes said.
The South African Tourism Department has recently made headlines over a controversial near R1 billion deal to sponsor English football club Tottenham Hotspur.
The deal is still scheduled to go ahead, despite widespread criticism from South Africans – including President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Acting CFO of South African Tourism Department Johan van der Walt resigned after it emerged he had personal links to an agency involved in the deal that would receive R33 million.
As reported by Daily Maverick, three board members who were all industry experts resigned after opposing the proposed sponsorship.
The new Tourism Board is now without any representation from the tourism industry.
This is not good news for the tourism industry, which, like most industries, is being affected by rising costs – mainly fuel and food.
Anton Gillis, CEO of Kruger Gate Hotel, said that hoteliers have felt the increases particularly hard, which also affects the livelihoods of staff in the hospitality industry.
Gillis added that South Africa only scrapped its Covid-19 policy in June 2022, and China, one of the country’s largest tourism sources, has only just begun scraping its restrictions.
This means that it will take a while for the industry to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Tags: COVID-19 pandemic, international travellers, South African tourism department, Tourism industry, Department of Home Affairs
