South Africa welcomed almost one million international tourists in July, but arrivals from China and India moved sharply in the opposite direction.
The country recorded 991,696 overnight tourists during the month, an increase of 12.5% from 881,393 a year earlier, according to Statistics South Africa. Indian arrivals fell 26.9% to 3,808. The number of Chinese tourists declined 20% to 2,669.
The contrast shows that South Africa’s tourism growth is being driven largely by visitors from neighbouring African countries rather than the two Asian markets the government has repeatedly identified as important sources of future growth.
African visitors dominate the increase
Countries in the Southern African Development Community supplied 785,469 tourists in July.
