SA Tourism opens shop in Lagos with highest ever visitor numbers

At a briefing last week, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced that tourism figures to South Africa had hit their highest number ever. More than 4,6 million tourists had chosen South Africa as their holiday destination of choice in just the first half of 2013, leading van Schalkwyk to state that South Africa had consolidated the gains of the Fifa 2010 World Cup.

This growth has been achieved in a global market that continues to be a very difficult place for many tourism operators to stay solvent, let alone grow and expand their product. Yet South Africa, which is still regarded as a cheap destination by international standards, has managed to overcome its siting as a relatively long-haul destination through a variety of targeted marketing campaigns and a focus on value. While large traditional markets such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands had declined slightly in terms of visitor numbers, new markets in Asia and West Africa were growing rapidly.

With African arrivals growing by 11.4 percent (by air) and 4.8 per cent (by land) year-on-year in the first half of 2013, the Tourism Minister said it made sense to strengthen South African Tourism’s presence in West Africa. The growth of Ghana (27.3 per cent) and Nigeria (15.9 per cent), albeit from a low base, has further motivated the establishment of a full-service South African Tourism office in Lagos which will open early next year.

Van Schalkwyk ended his statement on a high note, pointing out that, in its contribution to the GDP, the tourism sector (R32.6 bn) now routinely outperformed gold (R35.3 bn) as an export.

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