An uptick in international tourism resulted in income from SA’s tourist accommodation sector increasing 12.1% year on year in the first month of 2025.
This was after a year-on-year increase of the same size in December and a 11.8% rise between the final quarter of 2023 and the three months to end-December 2024.
According to Stats SA, 2,517,551 travellers (arrivals, departures and transits) passed through SA’s ports of entry and exit in February 2025; they were made up of 600,556 SA residents and 1,916,995 foreign travellers.
International tourism data released by Stats SA last month showed that the volume of arrivals, departures and transits in January were down 8.3%, 4.1% and 17.8% for SA residents, while for foreign travellers they were up 4.6%, 6.3% and 1.9%.
The influx of foreign travellers was a boon for SA’s hotel industry with income from hotels up by nearly a quarter at the start of the year.
A 24.6% rise for hotels drove up income across the broader accommodation sector and was the primary contributor to a 16.7% year-on-year increase in SA’s accommodation income.
Stats SA attributed the jump in income from accommodation to a 4.5% rise in the number of stay unit nights sold and an 11.7% improvement in the average income per stay unit night sold.
While the tourism industry continued to benefit from the festive season, seasonally adjusted income from accommodation was still 3.7% stronger in January than the previous month, having decreased 0.4% month on month in December.
Investec economist Lara Hodes said the tourism industry remains a key focus of the government given its “strong links to other sectors and its ability to absorb labour at different skill levels”.
Increased activity in the sector could provide much-needed relief amid SA’s lacklustre economic growth, reported at 0.6% last year.
Addressing the Board of Airline Representatives of SA aviation summit earlier this month, tourism minister Patricia de Lille said “we are pushing to grow arrivals to achieve the government of national unity’s priorities of inclusive economic growth and job creation”.
“SA is known the world over as a top tourist destination but we are still punching below our weight with so much untapped potential,” said the minister.
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