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Cape Town - The volume of arrivals and departures increased for both South African residents and foreign travellers between March 2015 and March 2016, Statistics SA said on Monday.
At the same time, the volume of transits decreased for South African residents but increased for foreign travellers.
In March 2016, there were 1 435 879 foreign arrivals to South Africa.
The arrivals were made up of 90 792 non-visitors and 1 345 087 visitors. The visitors consisted of 440 493 same-day visitors and 904 594 overnight visitors (tourists).
The breakdown of the tourists by region shows 235 640 from overseas; 653 598 from the SADC countries; 14 422 from "other" African countries and the country of residence of 934 tourists was classified as unspecified.
A comparison between the movements in February 2016 and March 2016 indicates that the volume of arrivals, departures and transits increased for both South African residents and foreign travellers. The volume of arrivals for South African residents increased by 36.2% (from 330 895 in February 2016 to 450 637 in March 2016), departures increased by 44.2% (from 336 167 in February 2016 to 484 750 in March 2016) and transits increased by 17.3% (from 618 in February 2016 to 725 in March 2016).
For foreign travellers, the volume of arrivals increased by 11.7% (from 1 285 698 in February 2016 to 1 435 879 in March 2016), departures increased by 16.4% (from 1 139 669 in February 2016 to 1 326 244 in March 2016), and transits increased by 19.3% (from 51 211 in February 2016 to 61 087 in March 2016).
As for tourism accommodation, measured in nominal terms (current prices), total income for the tourist accommodation industry increased by 11.9% in March 2016 compared with March 2015.
Income from accommodation increased by 13.7% year-on-year in March 2016, the result of a 4.0% increase in the number of stay unit nights sold and a 9.4% increase in the average income per stay unit night sold.
In March 2016, the types of accommodation that recorded the highest year-on-year growth in income from accommodation were: caravan parks and camping sites (31.4%); "other" accommodation (18.7%); and guest-houses and guest-farms (15.2%).
The main contributors to the 13.7% year-on-year increase in income from accommodation in March 2016 were: hotels (contributing 7.4 percentage points); and "other" accommodation (contributing 4.9 percentage points).
