The number of tourists arriving in South Africa edged up by 1.4% between July and August to just over one million, according to Statistics South Africa data released on 30 September. The total of 1,005,286 was 7.4% higher than in August 2025. The figures follow a stronger month in July, when the tourism department reported 991,696 international tourists, a rise of 12.5% year on year. The slower annual pace in August suggests that growth, while sustained, is moderating.
As in previous months, visitors from neighbouring Southern African Development Community (SADC) states made up the bulk of arrivals. Overseas tourists numbered 203,376, or 20.2% of the total, and the United States (37,134), the United Kingdom (25,749) and Germany (14,731) together accounted for 38.2% of them. Stats SA found that 97.6% of tourists were in the country on holiday, a category that in the agency’s methodology includes shopping and visiting friends and relatives, not only leisure travel. Earlier releases show that most SADC travellers arrive by road, and that Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho are the largest sources. Analysis of data for the first five months of 2026 put SADC travellers at 76% of arrivals, 12.8% above the same period in 2018, while overseas arrivals remained almost 8% below their 2018 level.
A report by the professional services firm BDO, cited by The Southern African Times, argues that the reliance on regional travellers carries an economic cost. It estimates that South Africa forwent R6.5bn in foreign spending last year, and reports that Morocco and Tunisia, both close to European source markets, are outpacing South Africa as preferred African destinations. BDO’s 2025 tourism trends report recorded Morocco at 17.4 million arrivals in 2024, against about 10 million for South Africa. The OECD’s 2026 tourism review put Morocco’s 2025 arrivals at 19.8 million.
The same report points to weakness in two large Asian markets. Chinese arrivals reached only 18,000 in the first seven months of 2026, which BDO describes as 67% below 2019 levels, despite the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme introduced in February 2025 and the new electronic travel authorisation system. Indian arrivals were 49% below 2019 and 31% lower than a year earlier. BDO attributes part of the shortfall to limited direct flights and instability in the Middle East, which affects connecting routes. Trade specialists have also noted that other African destinations have gained ground in the Chinese market. Tourism Update reported that Tanzania received more than 71,000 Chinese tourists in 2024 and Kenya more than 90,000, both well above their 2019 totals.
The government reads the data differently. Tourism minister Patricia de Lille said this week that the priority is to turn demand into investment, jobs and wider economic opportunity, with more attractions and reasons to stay longer, and with the benefits reaching more communities. She spoke at the South African Tourism Infrastructure Investment Summit, which aims to connect investors with tourism stakeholders. The department noted that, according to UN Tourism, South Africa was the strongest-performing African destination in the first half of 2026, with international arrivals up 12% on the same period of 2025, and ranked among the top 20 destinations globally that reported data. Tourism sustained 954,000 direct jobs and contributed 4.9% of GDP in 2024.
The figures can support more than one reading. On one, the dependence on SADC travellers is a vulnerability, since regional visitors tend to spend less per trip. On another, it reflects deepening intra-African mobility, in which Africans travelling by road to trade, visit family and holiday sustain jobs and enterprises, including small and informal businesses that rarely feature in headline spending estimates. Both readings point to the same policy question: how to broaden the range of markets and products without undervaluing the regional travellers who already form the foundation of the industry.
