Nairobi — South Africa (SA) has recorded a rise within the variety of vacationer arrivals from Kenya and Zimbabwe,highlighting the rising intra-African tourism business amid the removing of visa restrictions amongst international locations.
SA’s Ministry of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, mentioned that between January and December final yr, guests from Kenya to the nation grew by 99 p.c to 42,403 in comparison with the same interval in 2022.
Likewise, Zimbabwean journey to the Southern African nation expanded by 70.8 p.c to 2.1 million within the interval.
In 2023, SA welcomed 6.4 million guests from Africa, marking a 75.6 p.c enhance.
“Kenya’s exceptional efficiency could be attributed to the strategic determination by the federal government to simplify the visa regime in 2023 in addition to focused and efficient insights-driven advertising and marketing campaigns,” SA Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille mentioned.
“This restoration could be attributed to constant efforts to showcase South Africa as a welcoming, accountable tourism vacation spot, highlighting experiences that align with intrepid, inexperienced financial system aware vacationers,” she added.
Within the assessment interval, customer arrivals from the Americas improved by 39.8 p.c to 455,901, with america contributing 353,975 arrivals to South Africa, representing a 35 p.c leap in comparison with the previous yr.
Europe remained a powerful market, with a 38.2 p.c enhance, led by the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia.
Asian markets additionally confirmed substantial development, with arrivals from India and China surging by 43.7 p.c and 204.9 p.c, respectively.
Equally, the Center East witnessed a 33.7 p.c enhance, notably from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Complete worldwide vacationer arrivals final yr have been 8.5 million, representing a 48.9 p.c leap.
The minister emphasised the necessity to handle visa rules and air entry for sustained development.
She expressed optimism for continued tourism development and thanked guests for selecting South Africa.