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Cape Town - The number of Chinese tourists who visited South Africa in October 2015 increased by 85.6% to 7 902 compared to October 2014, Statistics SA said on Monday.
The Netherlands had the largest decrease in tourist numbers (14.2%) compared to October 2014.
In October 65.7% of tourists came from Europe, 15% from North America, 11% from Asia and 1.4% from the Middle East.
The ten leading countries of origin of overseas tourists were the UK, Germany, the US, France, the Netherlands, Australia, China, Switzerland, India and Canada.
The Netherlands had the largest drop in tourist numbers (14.2%) compared to October 2014, while China showed the largest increase (85.6% to 7 902).
Almost all the tourists from the rest of Africa came from Sadc countries.
A total of 3 378 084 travellers passed through South African ports of entry in October 2015, Statistics SA said on Monday.
These travellers were made up of 890 783 South African residents and 2 487 301 foreign travellers and include arrivals, departures and people in transit.
The volumes in all three categories increased compared to October 2014. Whereas arrivals for South African residents rose by 2.6% to 452 153 compared to October 2014, departures increased by 1.5% to 437 785 and transits went up by 15.6% to 872.
For foreign travellers, arrivals and departures increased by 3% to 1.3 million and 1.1 million respectively, while transits were up by 8.5% to 75 531.
A comparison between September 2015 and October 2015 indicates that the volume of arrivals increased for both SA residents and foreign travellers. However, departures decreased for SA travellers.
The volume of arrivals for SA residents increased by 2.3% to 452 153, departures decreased by 2.4% to 437 758 and transits decreased by 6.8% to 872.
For foreign travellers the volume of arrivals went up by 3.5% to 1.3 million between September 2015 and October 2015, and departures increased by 2.9% to 1.1 million, while transits fell by 5.7% to 75 531.
In October 36.2% of the visitors were same-day visitors and 63.8% were tourists who stayed overnight.
Between October 2014 and October 2015 the number of same-day visitors increased by 11.4% to 423 864 and tourist numbers decreased by 8.8% to 748 561.
Between September 2015 and October 2015 same-day visitor numbers increased only slightly, while the tourist count rose by 4.4%.
Road transport was the most common and used by 70.9% of the travellers, while 28.8% used air transport and only 0.3% used sea transport.
(Source: Stats SA)
