SA welcomed 1,088,245 foreign visitors in April — a 19.9% year-on-year increase — though international spending remains below prepandemic levels. Most of these visitors (76%) were overnight tourists.
According to calculations by Investec economist Lara Hodes, tourist arrivals rose 5.7% year on year in the first quarter, while growth in overseas travel was far more subdued — up just 3.1%, with a slight 0.9% dip in March.
Stats SA’s March tourist accommodation report on Tuesday shows that growth in income from accommodation eased to 6.9% year on year, following February’s 12.6% lift. Hotels were the main contributors.
With the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) forecasting 1.9-million tourism jobs for SA in 2025 — a record high and 11.3% of national employment — the industry appears primed to help drive economic recovery.
SA’s role as the current Group of 20 (G20) presidency powerhouse has offered the country a rare chance to reframe travel and tourism as a central pillar of the economic agenda.
“Jobs are leading the recovery, with employment expected to reach new highs, showing the enormous human impact of the sector’s growth,” WTTC CEO Julia Simpson said.
As SA takes on the G20 presidency, “it has a unique opportunity to place travel and tourism at the heart of its agenda”, she said.
Still, the performance of the sector since the pandemic has been less than stellar, underscoring regulatory and infrastructure challenges that could blunt the long-term prospects.
At the 2025 Africa’s Travel Indaba, tourism minister Patricia de Lille underscored the sector’s economic importance, noting that in 2024 SA welcomed 8.9-million tourists, “and their direct spending contribution was R91.6bn, supporting an estimated 1.6-million jobs”.
The Tourism Growth Partnership Plan, to be implemented over the next five years, aims to grow tourism employment to 2.5-million jobs, increase the sector’s GDP contribution to 10% and attract an additional 1-million international air arrivals annually.
Even as job creation and domestic tourism gain momentum, the sector’s GDP contribution and international visitor spending remain below prepandemic levels.
Spending
This year, the WTTC projected international visitor spending at R128.4bn, which was R37.7bn below 2019 levels. The sector’s GDP contribution, estimated at R659.8bn (8.9% of national GDP), remains 3.4% below its pre-pandemic peak.
Hodes said the budget cut to the department of home affairs’ digitisation programme is likely to have a big impact. “On the tourism sector specifically, we could see a delay in the implementation of certain key projects, causing constraints such as visa processing delays, which could deter international travel.”
However, she noted that visa reforms remained a key priority of Operation Vulindlela and said the significant infrastructure spend proposed in the budget “is extremely positive” for tourism.
In April, most international visitors (76.6%) came from the Southern African Development Community region, led by Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho.
Overseas tourists, who comprised 21.5% of arrivals, were led by the UK (30,681), US (26,095) and Germany (19,324). Germany recorded a notable 36.7% year-on-year increase.
Leisure remained the primary driver, with 97.2% of tourists travelling for holiday purposes. According to Stats SA, road travel was the most common mode of transport in April, particularly among regional visitors.
Domestic visitor spending continues to show resilience, with a 2025 total forecast of R445bn, which is 3.8% above 2019 levels.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.