The information below was extracted from available data as at 21 January 2013, writes Martin Jansen van Vuuren.
ARRIVALS
The latest available data from Statistics South Africa is for January to September 2012:
| Current period | Change over same period last year | |
| UK | 310 803 | 4.4% |
| Germany | 310 803 | 4.4% |
| USA | 248 305 | 14.5% |
| India | 79 306 | 18.3% |
| China | 96 741 | 63.5% |
| Overseas Arrivals (excl same day visitors) | 1 778 156 | 8.7% |
| African Arrivals | 4 953 520 | 16.4% |
| Total Foreign Arrivals | 6 750 636 | 10.7% |
NB: African Arrivals plus Overseas Arrivals do not add to Total Foreign Arrivals due to the exclusion of unspecified arrivals, which could not be allocated to either African or Overseas.
HOTEL STATS
The latest available data from STR Global is for January to November 2012:
| Current period | Average Room Occupancy |
Average Room Rate | Revenue Per Available Room |
| All Hotels in SA | 59.9% | R 880 | R 527 |
| All 5-star hotels in SA | 58.2% | R 1 556 | R 905 |
| All 4-star hotels in SA | 59.9% | R 848 | R 508 |
| All 3-star hotels in SA | 59.9% | R 711 | R 426 |
| Change over same period last year | |||
| All Hotels in SA | 6.9% | 4.1% | 11.3% |
| All 5-star hotels in SA | 11.1% | 2.1% | 13.5% |
| All 4-star hotels in SA | 7.8% | 3.8% | 11.9% |
| All 3-star hotels in SA | 4.9% | 4.6% | 9.7% |
ACSA DATA
The latest available data from ACSA is for January to December 2012:
| Change over same period last year | Passengers arriving on International Flights | Passengers arriving on Regional Flights | Passengers arriving on Domestic Flights |
| OR Tambo International | 2.0% | -9.1% | -3.8% |
| Cape Town International | -0.2% | 13.7% | 0.5% |
| King Shaka International | 14.0% | N/A | -6.7% |
| WHAT THIS MEANS FOR MY BUSINESSFrom the data we can start to assess how the tourism industry fared in 2012 when compared to 2011. The STR data shows that hotels have achieved higher occupancies and room rates resulting in strong growth in RevPAR, while the Stats SA arrival data indicate strong growth in the key international source markets.
On the other hand, the ACSA data shows that growth in passengers arriving on international flights at OR Tambo International Airport has been sluggish, while passengers arriving on regional and domestic flights have actually declined. An analysis of the passengers arriving on domestic flights show that except for January and February 2012, every other month has had less arrivals that 2011. The reduction in international flights between Cape Town and London is reflected in the passengers arriving on international flights at Cape Town International Airport in the latter part of 2012. Regional flights have however increased off a low base, which could be attributed to the connectivity from Cape Town, via Namibia to Angola being improved. Overall, it seems that the tourism industry has grown in 2012, but not at very high levels. In terms of 2013, the UNWTO forecasts growth of between 2% to 4% in international tourism. For more information contact Martin at Grant Thornton on +27 (0)21 417 8838 or visit: http://www.gt.co.za. |
