In May, South Africa fully recovered pre-pandemic arrivals from the US and Australia, while exceptional growth from Brazil and France assisted in driving a year-on-year overall increase of 11.3% in overseas arrivals.

Statistics South Africa’s latest International Tourism report hints that the recent reinstatement of South African Airways' (SAA) direct flights between Johannesburg and both São Paulo and Perth are translating into a boost in arrivals from South America and Australasia.

With further impetus provided by the return of LATAM’s flight from São Paulo, arrivals from Brazil leapt by 213.5% year-on-year, totalling 3 935 in May. This is however still only 77% of the just over 5 100 arrivals recorded in May 2019.

Arrivals from Australia jumped by 41.8% year-on-year to 9 128, exceeding the May 2019 figure of 8 825. The increase correlates strongly with the relaunch of SAA' direct flight to Perth at the end of  April.

Demand from the US was robust, evidenced by a 12.1% year-on-year increase in arrivals from North America to 40 860, also exceeding the pre-pandemic figure of 40 470.
 

Overall, arrivals from Europe were up by 5% from last year to 64 045, with France standing out with a 30% increase in arrivals to over 10 000. Arrivals from the UK remained stagnant at 17 989, six tourists down from last year. European arrivals were at 85% of the May 2019 figure of 75 308.

Recovery of arrivals from overseas against May 2019 stood at just under 90%, totalling 147 428.

Click here to view our interactive current and historical inbound tourism data for South Africa.