International tourists are back

Business owners in tourist areas are smiling again. Thousands of international tourists are visiting, eating, drinking and having fun. Most importantly, they are spending a lot of money.

The strengthening of most international currencies against the rand means hotel rooms, meals, boat trips and paragliding flights are cheap for holiday makers with foreign credit cards.

The menu from a restaurant in Munich, for example, shows that a steak dinner costs R555 (€28.50) and a bottle of red wine R624 (€32).

Figures in the latest Tourism and Migration report from Statistics SA show that the number of international tourists visiting SA increased sharply compared to a year ago. An analysis of the figures show a threefold increase during December 2022 and January 2023 compared to the same period a year ago, from just more than 116 000 to nearly 378 000.

These figures exclude visitors from African countries who arrive by road, because the figures of millions who arrive this way from neighbouring countries and further afield are unreliable. It is also unlikely that these visitors are tourists in the true sense of the word, despite ticking “holiday” on the forms at the border point when entering SA.

Stats SA says most of the tourists visiting SA come from the UK and Germany.

“The ten leading overseas countries in terms of the number of tourists visiting South Africa in January 2023 were the UK (21,4%), Germany (15,7%), USA (14%), The Netherlands (6,9%), France 4,8%, Australia (3.3%), India (3%), Canada, (2,8%), Switzerland 2,3% and Italy (2%).”

Tourists from these countries accounted for 76.2% of all tourists from overseas countries, and a comparison between January 2022 and January 2023 shows that the number of tourists increased for all 1o countries, according to Stats SA.

International tourist arrivals by country: January 2022 vs January 2023

Recovery

Southern Sun Hotels CEO Marcel von Aulock says he includes visitors from Africa who arrive by air when looking at tourist numbers.

He shared a few comments on the numbers:

• 2019/2020 – 499 346: this was pre-Covid, with a little noise due to the problem developing in China.
• 2020/2021 – 50 044: this was nine months after the first Covid-19 lockdown. Much of the world was still closed, with Von Aulock speculating that most of this travel would have been people visiting family rather than pure leisure holidays.
• 2021/2022 – 116 230: this season was supposed to be better, but SA was shut out of much of the source markets in late November with the discovery of the Omicron variant. “The bans didn’t last long, but the damage was done,” says Von Aulock.
• 2022/2023 – 377 876: this was better than hoped for, mainly because “we did not know what to expect”. “However, it’s still some 24% below the pre-Covid numbers of 2019/2020 and there is still quite a bit of recovery to come,” he says.

“The peak season for travel for both business and leisure is from about October to March every year. This includes the international tourist season and the peak business and events-related travel.

“As an example, Cape Town had a good December and January, and an excellent February because you got the combination of good international leisure, the E Prix and other big events such as the opening of parliament and the Mining Indaba – all of which bring many international visitors,” says Von Aulock.

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“In December, Johannesburg had the ANC elective conference, which brings many inter-provincial visitors. Durban, despite the negativity of closed beaches, had good occupancy numbers as a result of business travel continuing quite far into the month and leisure not being as badly affected as may have been feared.”

All of this points to an industry that is recovering nicely but is not yet back to normal volumes. Southern Sun expects that the recovery will continue. “The risk is that it stalls as a result of economic circumstances, both here and in our source markets,” says Von Aulock.

“While the weak currency makes us a great value destination when you’re here, we are expensive to get to as flight capacity is not back to normal. The current news flow around Eskom and blackouts is all valid, and it’s bad press for a country that is competing to attract visitors.

“As the visitor numbers show, it’s much better than it was just a year ago, but has the potential to be even better if we can navigate the risks.”

Exploring SA

City Lodge Hotels CEO Andrew Widegger says the group experienced sustained growth in average occupancies with occupancy rates well in excess of pre-pandemic levels.

“December 2022 monthly occupancies in SA were 62%, compared to 50% in 2019.

“Group average occupancies for the six months ended 31 December 2022 were 58% (2021: 30%) for our SA hotels compared to 57% in 2019,” he says, adding that international travellers account for between 20% and 25% of the hotel group’s occupancy.

He notes that the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed new demographics of guests who are largely newcomers to the tourism industry.

This includes those keen to explore their own country, with City Lodge Hotels seeing an increase in local leisure travellers.

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“The digital nomad is an emerging class of traveller and our year-round warm climate and affordability makes SA a perfect destination,” he says.

“While Christmas and our summer are obvious peak seasons, we also see international visitors throughout the year, especially those unaffected by school holidays and who can work anywhere or are retired. Before Covid, the holiday season for European and American guests was typically in the July holiday season aligned to the long school breaks in those regions.

“After Covid, we are seeing a resurgence of these markets with visitors all year round, given that work and vacation times can easily be merged into staycations.”

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Visa problems

Widegger adds however that “we hope that the new minister of tourism will assist in facilitating the required visa reforms for those countries which require visas”.

Marc Wachsberger, CEO of The Capital Hotels and Apartments, says the Department of Tourism needs to “stop scoring own goals”.

“Get the basics right and then get out the way so that we can do what we do well. We have a beautiful country that remains a popular destination for travellers worldwide.

“In the past, we have either had to contend with interventions that made it harder for people to visit or unfulfilled promises that have left unnecessary red tape in place. That is why my advice to the department is to stop messing around with football teams, make good on their promises and then let the industry take it from there,” says Wachsberger.

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He says at the top of the list of basics that need to be addressed are safety and e-Visas.

“There has been a significant bounceback post-Covid, but the government continues to score own goals by spending money on anything other than the essentials, like safety and security for visitors and e-Visas,” says Wachsberger.

“The simple implementation of an e-Visa process, which has been discussed for years, and ensuring the safety of tourists during their travels will do much more to rejuvenate South Africa’s tourism industry than other interventions the government has tried in the past.”

Load shedding is also a top priority, but it does not show any signs of disappearing any time soon. Its effects, however, are threatening to squeeze the life out of an industry that barely survived Covid-19.

“As an industry, we know what we need to do to get this sector going. We have spent too long going back and forth with the department, only for them to make unilateral decisions that we end up paying for. All we need are the basics. We are agile, innovative, and blessed with a beautiful product. We can do the rest,” says Wachsberger.

New minister, new hope?

The industry hopes that the new Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, will act. Last week, in her first interaction with business following her appointment, De Lille reiterated the importance of tourism.

“Tourism is a major sector for our country and we have much more to offer the world. We can do a lot more to reach our full potential and create many more jobs for our people.

“We are blessed with a good climate, beautiful scenery, beautiful beaches, ranges and mountains and diverse cultures and people and some of the best foods and restaurants in the world,” she said.

“We are making a great recovery after the devastating blow that was Covid-19. We now have to work and push even harder to get our numbers to higher heights.

“SA is open for business,” added, saying that “we” must take the actions that are needed to make tourism the crown jewel in the economy that it is meant to be.