Chinese School - South Africa reports record high tourist arrivals

CHINA / Experience China in South Africa

South Africa reports record high tourist arrivals

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-31 16:35

South Africa has for the first time broken through the 2.5 million mark,
recording over 2.7 million tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2006.

"We have seen a 16 percent increase in arrivals across all territories
compared to the same period last year, which translates into almost
377,000 more visitors," said Marthinus van Schalkwyk, minister of
environmental affairs and tourism, in Mpumalanga Province Sept. 27.

He said the largest component of this growth came from Africa and the
Middle East, which was 21.9 percent higher, followed by a 7.1 percent
growth registered from Asia and Australia.

The UK, Germany and the USA remain the country's most important long-haul
markets.

He said: "Thus far this year, we have seen continued growth in all months
from the USA and a 3.6 percent increase from Europe as a whole."

Predicting that 2006 would be another bumper year for tourism, he noted,
"Our first quarter figures indicate that we are well on target to surpass
last year's record tourism arrival figure of 7.3 million."

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