The increase in the number of visitors to South Africa’s national parks shows that the tourism sector is recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy. The recovery, primarily fuelled by the domestic market, reflects that the South African Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan in the tourism sector is well on track.

“I am happy to report that in the 2021/22 financial year, the number of visitors to the country’s national parks increased by 74% from 1 996 667 during the COVID-19 lockdowns of the 2020/21 financial year to 3 482 514,” Creecy said on Sunday (September 11).

“Currently, South African National Parks (SANParks) and its concessionaires employ over 6 100 people, 80% of whom are recruited from neighbouring communities,” she added, speaking at the launch of the National Parks Week at Augrabies National Park in the Northern Cape.

“Through the expanded public works programme, a further 13 650 work opportunities were created last year and 835 SMMEs participated in providing goods and services to SANParks during the 2021/22 financial year.”

Domestic trips and spend on the rise

In a recent Tourism Report released by SA Tourism analysing statistics for the first half of the year, domestic tourism is shown to have recovered tremendously compared with the first half of last year. A total of 15,2 million domestic trips were taken between January and June, an increase of 114% over 2021 numbers.

Domestic spending has also seen remarkable growth thus far, rising 175,2% higher than the first half of 2021. In line with the growth in spend comes an increase in average spend, which now equals R2 850 per person per trip.

The Sho’t Left Month of Love campaign, which was launched in February 2022, helped to encourage a great shift in the number of domestic trips as well. A total of 238,6% more domestic journeys were taken in February 2022 when compared with the same period in 2021.