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South Africa

See the latest market data for South Africa – including traveller visits and spend, length of stay, behaviours and preferences.

Introduction

Travellers from South Africa made 5.2 million outbound visits in 2019, with a total international tourism expenditure of less than US$4.1 billion.

In 2022, the UK welcomed 206,839 visits from South Africa. During the travellers’ visits, their total expenditure was £275.03 million, with an average spend of £1,330 per person.

Discover visitor behaviour, travel trade insights, detailed data visualisations for this market – and more. The statistics in this market report are collated from a range of sources such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as sponsored questions and our own research. For further details, see How we source this information.

Explore the inbound data in full

Use our visualisations to see data from this market in greater depth and clarity. Compare annual statistics, and filter by age group, gender, trip duration and more. Includes seasonality, trip purpose and regional spread of visitors to UK destinations. This data is based on the International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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Perceptions of Britain in the South African market

  • South African perceptions of Britain continued to be very strong in 2022; respondents in the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index ranked Britain 1st out of 60 countries across a range of attributes.

  • Among these, Britain scored 1st for ‘people’ and was also the most desired destination if ‘money was no object’.

  • South African respondents consider Britain as being ‘exciting’, ‘educational’, and ‘fascinating’, and they hold high regard for British films, music, museums, and sports.

Global context

Top-level statistics relating to the population, GDP, tourism expenditure and popular destinations for this market. For greater detail on inbound tourism flows from this market to the UK, see our data visualisations.

Measure

2019

International tourism expenditure (US$bn)

<4.1

Global rank for international tourism expenditure

>50

Number of outbound visits (m)

5.2

Most visited destination

Mozambique

Most visited destination in Western Europe

United Kingdom

Key demographic and economic data

Measure

2023

Population (m)

60.6

GDP per capita PPP (US$)

15,993

Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)

0.7

Annual GDP growth (%)

0.2

Access to Britain from South Africa

The key routes and transport modes that connect this market with the UK.

Measure

2023

Weekly aircraft departures

35

Weekly seat capacity

11,983

Airports with direct routes in South Africa

2

Airports with direct routes in Britain

2

  • In 2023, two airports in South Africa serve two British airports: London Heathrow and London Gatwick.

  • Of all the airlines to operate the South African to Britain route in 2023, British Airways serves the most departing seats, with a 79% share.

  • In 2023, the highest share of departing seats came from the Johannesburg to London Heathrow route, with a 67% share.

  • The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 66% reduction in direct seat capacity from South Africa to the UK in 2020, and 2021 was 90% behind pre-COVID levels. In 2022, seat capacity was 43% behind pre-pandemic levels.

  • In 2023, direct seat capacity from South Africa to the UK is set to recover to 75% of pre-pandemic (2019) capacity.

  • The current reduced rate of Air Passenger Duty for visitors departing Britain for South Africa is £91.

Further resources

PDF

South Africa Aviation Profile

Outbound travel to the UK

Download (150.14 KB)

Where visitors from South Africa to the UK reside in their own country - Published 2016

Published 2016

Download (157.06 KB)

How we source this information

We work with a number of data sources to provide a rich and insightful picture of our key inbound source markets. This includes, but is not limited to, data provided by Oxford Economics, the UNWTO, Apex, Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index and from our own surveys and ad-hoc research. The largest share of these data comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the ONS.

Visit our About the International Passenger Survey page for more information on how this data is collected and analysed. 

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