A drop in international visitors to South Africa in December derailed the upward trajectory experienced in the previous months, according to the latest data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA).

This was driven by the devastating effect travel bans – imposed on Southern Africa after local scientists identified the Omicron variant – had on internationals arrivals, which decreased by 33% compared with November. The effect of the sudden bans amounted to a loss of over R1bn (€55.37m) in bookings to South Africa.

However, December numbers were still up from the same period in 2020, with foreign traveller volumes increasing by 24% and transits up by 57%.

Departures by South African residents increased by 43% from November 2021 to December 2021, but transits by South Africans through the country decreased by 50% over the same period.

Middle East arrivals were the worst affected, dropping by 81% compared with November statistics. North American arrivals declined by only 9%, proving the most resilient source market for South Africa in December, according to StatsSA.

In December, 34 831 overseas tourists came from Europe (67.6% of all tourists), 11 163 from North America (21.7%), and 3 335 from Asia (6.5%).

The majority of tourists (94%) came to South Africa for holiday purposes, compared just 6% who were for business, study and medical treatment reasons. Within the overseas regions, Australasia had the highest proportion of tourists who came for holidays, at 99.5%.

The majority of African tourists, 196 573 (93%), also came to South Africa for holiday purposes.

January 2022 statistics will be released towards the end of March.

View the numbers and see further insights by clicking on our Stats DataStudio Visualisation link. The Full Statistics Dashboard can also be viewed here.