The number of foreign travellers who entered South Africa increased 8.4% to just over 1.2-million in March compared with the same period a year ago, data from Stats SA showed on Wednesday.
Industry officials have warned that tourism numbers could drop this year as a result of travel disruptions, especially from the Middle East, where the US and Israel have been at war with Iran since late February.
The conflict has also hamstrung global oil supply, leading to surges in the price of jet fuel, petrol and diesel and making both road and air travel more expensive.
On a month-on-month basis, foreign arrivals — people who are neither South African citizens nor permanent residents — were up 6.6% in March, Stats SA said in its latest international tourism report.
Some 670,498 tourists arrived from Southern African Development Community (Sadc) countries, constituting 73.5% of all tourists. Visitors from elsewhere on the continent accounted for just 1.8%.
Overseas visitors — from countries outside Africa — constituted 24.5% of all tourists, with the UK, Germany and the US contributing 52.4%.
Europe accounted for 68.1% of overseas tourists during the month, at 152,188, while 37,728 (16.9%) were from North America, 6.2% from Asia, 4.9% from Australasia, 3.5% from Central and South America, and just 0.5% from the Middle East.
Overall, nearly 3.04-million people travelled through South African ports during March, 23.8% of them being South African residents while 76.2% were foreign travellers.
The data shows that 97.2% of all tourists were in the country on holiday, compared with 2.5%, 0.3% and less than 0.1% who came for business, study and medical treatment, respectively.
The majority of African tourists — 665,324, or 96.8% — came to South Africa for a holiday.
In January tourism minister Patricia de Lille said the industry was no longer in recovery mode after being ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. It has entered a phase of expansion, with a record 10.485-million international visitors in 2025 — the highest number yet recorded, surpassing the previous peak of 2018.
The Middle East conflict could, however, stall some of that recovery.
The tourism sector sustains 1.8-million jobs, directly and indirectly, according to official data.
Last month, Stats SA reported nearly 14.2-million foreign travellers visited South Africa from the rest of the continent, overseas and unspecified countries last year, a 20.9% increase from 2024.
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