May 7, 2003
By Lucille Davie
WHERE do the bulk of visitors to South Africa head first? Wrong, not Cape Town. Gauteng got twice as many visitors as the Western Cape in 2002, according to SA Tourism's latest statistics.
In a market that grew by 11.1% to 6 429 583 visitors last year, 54.6% of these visitors stopped off in Gauteng as opposed to 22.9% visiting the Western Cape. Mpumalanga followed with 20.8%.
These figures are contained in the May 2003 SA Tourism Report. "Visitors" are defined as "those tourists who visit a province but do not necessarily spend a night in the province".
The tourism boom in South Africa was defined in March 2003 by Valli Moosa, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, as having "defied gravity". The World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in August and September 2002 and which attracted 37 000 delegates, and the African Union Summit held in July 2002 in Durban, are two events that put the country "up front on the global stage and entrenched South Africa as the events capital of Africa", according to the Report. The Durban Summit drew more than 5 000 ministers, ambassadors and delegates.
Measured in terms of bed nights, both Gauteng and the Western Cape show an almost equal number of "air" visitors hosted. The Report divides the bed nights into those by tourists who entered the country by air and those by land.
A total of 64,9-million bed nights were spent in the country in 2002, of which air tourists accounted for 53%. Air tourists spent around 1,3-million bed nights in the Western Cape compared to Gauteng's approximately 1,1-million bed nights. On the other hand, Gauteng captured the most bed nights from land tourists, at just over 12-million compared to the Western Cape's approximately 2,3-million.
And when it comes to spending by tourists, Gauteng is way ahead of other provinces and R7-billion more than tourist spending in the Western Cape. Gauteng captured R16.9-billion of the total spend while the Western Cape pulled in R9,9-billion, with KwaZulu-Natal in third place with R6-billion.
In general the length of stay of total tourists by air was 14.4 days and for land tourists 8.1 days.
The main highlight for tourists to South Africa in 2002 was the "culture, history and heritage" of the country, at 20,7%. This includes the warmth and friendliness of the people. Second on the highlight list was "scenic beauty", third was "value for money", fourth was "wildlife" and fifth was "business opportunities".
Almost 50% (48.4%) of all tourists "did not have any concerns" prior to visiting South Africa, while those tourists who did have concerns prior to arriving list "crime/theft", "lack of safety and security" and "health risks" as their top three concerns.
Over 80% of tourists "did not experience any problems" in South Africa in 2002. Tourists who did have problems on their visit listed "personal safety" (5,8%) and poor service (3.1%) as their major problems.
Tourist arrivals in the country are forecast to grow by 6.7% to 6,86 million in 2003. Visitors from Africa are expected to top the list at 4.6 million, with 1.5-million Europeans expected to visit, and visitors from Asia and Australia coming in at 284 526. Visitors from the Americas are projected to be 265 267.
This comes against the background of an increase of 3,1% in the global tourism economy in 2002, despite fears of economic downturns, terrorism and war. In 2002 there were 714,6 million international tourist arrivals, according to the World Trade Organisation. Europe (58% of global market) remains the number one tourist destination, with Asia and the Pacific (18%) coming second, and the Americas (17%) in third place. Africa took 4% of the global tourism market share.
While some might believe that Europeans are the mainstay of the South African tourism market, the "bedrock of the tourism economy in South Africa remains the domestic market and land-based travel from neighbouring countries", says SA Tourism.
The largest source of arrivals into South Africa in 2002 was Lesotho with 1,15-million visitors. This figure was in fact down on 2001 figures by 9,7%. Visitors from Swaziland and Botswana tied in second place with just under 800 000, with Zimbabwean visitors topping 600 000, and Mozambique at 450 000 visitors. The UK and Germany are the sixth and seventh biggest source markets (approximately 440 000 and 250 000 respectively).
