Saturday, July 22, 2006

business.iafrica.com | business news Tourists to SA up 26.6%

BUSINESS NEWSTourists to SA up 26.6%Fri, 21 Jul 2006The total number of foreign travellers who visited South Africa from mainland Africa, overseas and unspecified countries, arriving through all ports of entry during April 2006 was 727 272, Stats SA said on Thursday.The April 2006 figure represents an increase of 26.6 percent when compared with the April 2005 figure of 574 364.The number of foreign travellers who departed from South Africa in April 2006 was 657 019, which increased by 22.9 percent from 534 648 recorded in April 2005.During April 2006, the most common mode of travel used by foreign travellers arriving in South Africa was road, involving 534 952 (73.6 percent) of total travellers, followed by air, involving 178 902 (24.6 percent) travelers.Of the total number of foreign travellers arriving by air, 142 873 (79.9 percent) arrived through Johannesburg International Airport while 34 557 (19.3 percent) arrived through Cape Town International Airport, 492 (0.3 percent) arrived through Durban International Airport and the rest, 980 (0.5 percent), arrived through other airports.Those arriving by rail, sea and unspecified modes of travel were 13 418 (1.8 percent). Among the total number of foreign travellers departing from South Africa, road was the most common mode of travel (468 848 representing 71.4 percent), followed by air (187 574 representing 28.5 percent).Of the total number of foreign travellers departing by air, 146 948 (78.3 percent) departed from Johannesburg International Airport, 39 039 (20.8 percent) departed from Cape Town International Airport, 350 (0.2 percent) used Durban International Airport and the rest, 1237 (0.7 percent), departed through other airports.Those departing by rail, sea and unspecified modes of travel were 597 (0.1 percent). It is observed that the distribution of air arrivals by port of entry and air departures by port of exit are almost the same.During April 2006, 165 410 overseas travellers visited South Africa. This represents a 13.4 percent increase in the volume of overseas travellers as compared to April 2005 when there were 145 926 overseas travellers. It must be noted that the Easter holidays in 2006 were in April, whereas in 2005 they fell in March.It is further observed that in April 2006, there were 143 377 air arrivals from overseas, which accounts for 86.7 percent of all overseas arrivals. Of these overseas air arrivals, 109 729 (76.5 percent) arrived through Johannesburg International Airport; 32 551 (22.7 percent) arrived through Cape Town International Airport; 370 (0.3 percent) arrived through Durban International Airport and the rest, 727 (0.5 percent), arrived through other airports.The number of overseas travellers arriving by road during April 2006 was 21 523 (13.0 percent). The number of those arriving by rail, sea and unspecified mode of travel was 510 (0.3 percent).The total number of travellers who arrived in South Africa from mainland Africa during April 2006 was 558 776, as compared to the April 2005 figure of 422 706, representing an increase of 32.2 percent.Of these travellers from mainland Africa, the number arriving by road was 512 487 (91.7 percent). In April 2006, there were 34 607 (6.2 percent) air travellers arriving from mainland Africa. Of these air arrivals, 32 318 (93.4 percent) arrived through Johannesburg International Airport, 1921 (5.6 percent) arrived through Cape Town International Airport, 121 (0.3 percent) arrived through Durban International Airport while the rest, 247 (0.7 percent), arrived through other airports.The number of travellers from mainland Africa arriving by rail, sea and unspecified mode of travel was 11 682, which constituted 2.1 percent of all travellers from Mainland Africa.Of the 165 410 overseas travellers visiting South Africa during April 2006, 152 883 (92.4 percent) stated that they were in South Africa for holidays while 5280 (3.2 percent) stated that they were on business trips. Overseas travellers arriving for the purpose of work (including contract work) were 4674 (2.8 percent), those in transit were 1036 (0.6 percent), those visiting for the purpose of study were 1276 (0.8 percent) and those with border traffic concession were 256 (0.2 percent).Of the 558 776 travellers from mainland Africa visiting South Africa during April 2006, the majority 518 369 (92.8 percent) stated that they were in South Africa for holidays while 9095 (1.6 percent) stated that they were on business trips.A further breakdown of travellers from mainland Africa is as follows: those visiting for the purpose of study were 11 491 (2.1 percent), those arriving for the purpose of work (including contract work) were 3098 (0.6 percent), those with border traffic concession were 10 943 (2.0 percent) and travellers in transit were 5707 (1.0 percent).During April 2006, the number of travellers from the UK visiting South Africa was 40 795 (24.7 percent), making it the leading country of origin of overseas travellers. This was followed by travellers from Germany, 20 708 (12.5 percent) and the USA, 18 965 (11.5 percent). Other main countries of origin of overseas travellers were: France, 8532 (5.2 percent); Netherlands, 7031 (4.3 percent); Australia, 6991 (4.2 percent); India, 3834 (2.3 percent) and Canada, 3830 (2.3 percent).Upon comparing the figures of April 2006 with those of April 2005, the highest increase in the number of arrivals from these leading source countries was for India, (24.0 percent increase from 3092 in 2005 to 3834 in 2006).The highest percentage of the decrease in the number of travellers was observed for travellers from France (6.8 percent decrease from 9154 in 2005 to 8532 in 2006).During April 2006, the top eight countries in mainland Africa from which travellers arriving in South Africa came were: Lesotho, 166 679 (29.8 percent); Zimbabwe, 88 918 (15.9 percent); Swaziland, 85 799 (15.4 percent); Botswana, 78 575 (14.1 percent); Mozambique, 74 251 (13.3 percent); Namibia, 25 838 (4.6 percent); Zambia, 13 266 (2.4 percent) and Malawi, 9550 (1.7 percent).When comparing arrival figures from the leading source countries from mainland Africa for April 2005 and April 2006, the highest increase in the number of travellers was from Mozambique, (74.7 percent increase from 42 491 in 2005 to 74 251 in 2006).During April 2006, the most common mode of travel used by South African residents arriving in South Africa was road, involving 249 169 (64.4 percent) travellers, followed by air, 136 197 (35.2 percent) and those arriving by rail, sea and unspecified modes of travel, 1631 (0.4 percent). The most common mode of travel for South African residents departing was road, involving 268 688 (65.0 percent) travellers, followed by air, 144 702 (35.0 percent) and those departing by rail, sea and unspecified modes of travel, 221 (0.0 percent).I-Net Bridge

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Sunday, July 16, 2006

Cape Town and South Africa Tourism links and information

Voted Favourite Foreign City by the UK Telegraph in 2004, Cape Town is one of the places you just have to visit before you die.It's an awesome city. All the vibe you want - great parties, great shopping and loads of galleries and other cultural attractions can't detract from the fact that what makes Cape Town special is the fact that it is set in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Even Sir Francis Drake, who'd pretty much seen it all, called Cape Point the 'fairest cape in all the circumference of the world'. It's a needle-sharp promontory, which - contrary to marketing hype - does not divide the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic. But Capetonians claim it does and you can often see a line of foam heading straight out from the point - possibly all the way to Antarctica - which certainly divides the False Bay Coastline on the east from the Atlantic Seaboard on the west.

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Friday, July 14, 2006