South Africa has officially exceeded its pre-pandemic international tourism numbers, recording a 2 percent increase in total arrivals for the period January to October 2025 compared to the same period in 2019.
According to Statistics South Africa, more than 8.56 million visitors arrived in the country during the ten-month window, with a significant 35.8 percent year-on-year increase in October alone.
While this marks a key milestone in the country’s tourism recovery, overseas arrivals still trail behind 2019 figures by around 9.4 percent, with just over 1.9 million visitors compared to 2.1 million in the same period pre-COVID.
Regional markets show mixed recovery
The European market, South Africa’s largest overseas source region, remains 11 percent behind 2019 levels. However, some markets have surpassed their pre-pandemic performance, including North America (up 4.5 percent), Australasia (up 14 percent) and the Middle East (up 12 percent). These gains have been tempered by slower recovery in arrivals from Asia (down 31 percent) and Central and South America (down 20 percent).
Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), welcomed the return to growth but stressed the need for increased focus on high-value overseas markets. He noted that while overseas visitors made up only 24 percent of South Africa’s total arrivals in 2024, they accounted for nearly half of all tourism spend.
Calls for increased marketing and air capacity
Tshivhengwa said the industry must now double down on destination marketing and long-haul air access, adding that a stronger, functional SA Tourism body supported by the private sector will be essential to driving continued growth.
According to SA Tourism’s Regional GM for Europe, Ian Utermohlen, long-haul capacity from Europe was still down 22 percent in October compared to 2019 levels, underlining the need to rebuild aviation links to key source markets.
Next steps: focus on regional data and spending
FEDHASA National Chairperson Brett Tungay called for greater insight into where visitors are travelling within the country, how this is influencing regional occupancy rates and how tourism spend is being distributed. He said a clearer understanding of geographic trends will be key to shaping future investment and marketing strategies.
Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille welcomed the figures as evidence of sustained recovery, attributing the growth to stronger public-private partnerships, improved ease of travel, increased air access and an evolving tourism product.
“South Africa is becoming more competitive and visitors are responding,” she said.
