South African tourist revenue surges in 2012

South Africa has seen a considerable increase in revenues from the holiday industry this year.

According to the UN World Tourism Organization, people booking flights to Johannesburg, Cape Town and other destinations helped the country’s tourism receipts go up by more than a quarter between January and August 2012, when compared with the same period of 2011.

This was higher than the rate of growth recorded in other holiday hotspots throughout the previous year, including the USA, Thailand and Egypt.

The upturn also helped to fuel a four per cent increase in the overall number of international tourists around the world, with the figure rising by 28 million.

Secretary-general of UNWTO Taleb Rifai commented: “This growth is a very positive result in view of the global economic situation.”

This comes shortly after Cape Town was named one of the top cities in the world in Conde Nast Traveller’s Reader’s Choice Awards – a further indication of South Africa’s growing appeal with holidaymakers across the globe.

Written by Nicholas Scott