Tourism Update readers expect North America to significantly outstrip the growth of South Africa’s other top source markets such as Europe, the UK and the rest of Africa.

Arrivals from North America have grown strongly in 2022 YTD, driven partly by increased flight frequencies between the US and South Africa. According to the latest Tourism and Migration report from Stats SA, 207 420 arrivals were recorded from the US between January and October, only marginally behind the 212 877 arrivals from the UK.

In response to our latest poll, 43% of readers said they expected North America to be the strongest-growing market. Europe was selected by 30% of readers, while only 7% thought the UK would show the strongest growth.

Intra-Africa travel continues to be an important contributor to growth, with 12% of readers selecting that market. Asia (4%), the Middle East (2%) and South America (2%), were selected by a minority of respondents.

What should the new SADC Tourism Business Platform (TBP) focus on?

A year-long consultative process with representatives of the 16 Member States of the Southern African Development Community has led to the creation of a Tourism Business Platform designed to bring private-sector stakeholders together to address tourism barriers and enhance regional collaboration.

The platform has identified various pillars to achieve this goal, and we want to know which one you think will be the most crucial for the success of the platform.