Johannesburg city centre. Johannesburg is South Africa’s largest economic hub. Picture: Unsplash
Africa leads the pack when it comes to international visitors coming into the country. That’s according to the latest numbers from the Tourism Ministry and Statistics South Africa.
The ministry explained that international tourist arrivals from January to March 2024 totalled 2.4 million, representing a remarkable 15.4% increase when compared with the same period in 2023.
“South Africa welcomed 1.8 million tourist arrivals from the rest of the African continent between January and March 2024, marking a significant 74.5% of all arrivals,” said the tourism ministry.
They also highlighted that Zimbabwe and Ghana stood out for their remarkable growth, with Zimbabwe experiencing a 21.8% increase in tourist arrivals to South Africa when compared to the first three months of 2023, totalling 613 675 arrivals.
When it comes to Ghana, the ministry said that it recorded a 249,4% increase when compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 7 904 arrivals for January to March 2024.
This highlights that South Africa and Ghana’s visa-waiver is working in promoting intra-continental travel between the two countries.
South African Tourism Minister, Patricia de Lille, said they appreciated the continued remarkable growth in arrival numbers from the African continent, especially Ghana.
“Ghana’s immense performance can be attributed the fact South Africa and Ghana announced a visa-waiver scheme on 1 November 2023. The visa-waiver allows for travel for periods of up to 90 days within a calendar year, for purposes of business or tourism,” she said.
“This coupled, with targeted integrated marketing initiatives executed by South African Tourism to attract visitors from this market, makes for a winning formula for the growth of our sector.”