The US and UK showed the highest year-on-year growth among South Africa’s top five overseas source markets in January – this is an encouraging sign for the country needing to accelerate post-COVID recovery this year.
The US market, the star performer in 2024, continued its strong showing into the new year with a 13.2% year-on-year increase to 25 406 arrivals – equating to 99% of the 2020 figure. The UK market, after a dampened 2024 with arrivals contracting by 1.8% from 2023, showed a 12% year-on-year increase to 45 363 – a 92% recovery rate.
This is according to Statistics South Africa’s first international tourism report for 2025, which shows that overseas arrivals totalled 210 709 in January – an increase of 7.8% from last year but still 13% behind pre-COVID January 2020.
Rhino Africa CEO David Ryan said demand from the US exploded after the elections in November last year.
“In the months after the elections, demand took off and exceeded the increases reflected in the Statistics South Africa figures. We’ve kicked off this year with our two biggest consecutive months in history in terms of US bookings. This is notwithstanding the views that President Donald Trump has publicly aired about South Africa.”
Ryan expressed excitement about the return in demand from the UK.
“We see demand growing in all metrics from flight occupancies to interest, enquiries and bookings. It’s very encouraging to see this growth after several years of very sluggish performance post-COVID,” he said.
The UK was South Africa’s biggest source market in January, followed by Germany, at a modest 0.7% year-on-year increase to 31 295 arrivals, and the US.
SATSA CEO David Frost suggested the full measure of the US and UK recoveries in 2025 should only be evaluated after the launch of first quarter statistics.
Click here to view our interactive map of South Africa’s latest and historical inbound statistics.
Uneven recovery
Some sectors of the industry have voiced concern that South Africa’s tourism recovery is still heavily skewed towards popular destinations such as Cape Town and the Kruger National Park as well as the high-end market.
Frost previously told Tourism Update that the country urgently needs to energise its mid-market offerings.
“Cape Town and high-end lodges around Kruger have rebounded well beyond pre-pandemic levels while regions like the Garden Route, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga languish at just 50-60%. This mid-market once ensured a healthy geographic spread. Without it, overall growth remains one-sided and unsustainable,” he said.
Marc Wachsberger, CEO of The Capital Hotels, said South Africa needs to broaden the scope of initiatives such as the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, which allows for faster processing of visas for large accredited tours from China and India.
“Our appeal needs to extend across all travel groups. The simplest way to do that is to cut the red tape, make systems work efficiently and tourists will flood in naturally. South Africa is still one of the best and most affordable countries to visit,” he said.
