South Africa

From 22 May we will be working to update all of the data and documents on this page following the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revision of the International Passenger Survey (IPS) data for 2009-2018 and the released detailed 2019 data. UK data will be updated first and followed by the regional data from 27 May. Please be patient as we update these pages or contact the VisitBritain research team if you have any questions- VB/VEResearch@visitbritain.org. Thank you.

Global context


Measure	2019
International tourism expenditure (US$bn)	<4.1
Global rank for international tourism expenditure	>50
Number of outbound visits (m)	5.6
Most visited destination	Mozambique
Most visited destination in Western Europe	United Kingdom

Key demographic and economic data


Measure	2019
Population (m)	58.7
GDP per capita PPP (US$)	12,789
Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)	1.7
Annual average GDP growth in the past year (%)	0.2

South Africa Aviation Profile (PDF, 175 KB)

Find out where visitors from South Africa reside in their own country (Excel, 176KB, Published in 2016)

Exchange rate

1 GBP = 20.6093 ZAR

As of 22 January 2021

Retrieved from the Bank of England

Inbound visits to Britain from South Africa

Applied filters:

Display:

Drag to change year on charts and tables.

Touch the data points to see the values.

OVERVIEW OF UK VISITOR STATISTICS {{activeYear.name}}

Number of visits

{{ totalVisitsPerc == 'Infinity' ? '-' : totalVisitsPerc >= 0 ? '+' + totalVisitsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : totalVisitsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | fixUnits}}

Total expenditure (GBP)

{{ totalSpendPerc == 'Infinity' ? '-' : totalSpendPerc >= 0 ? '+' + totalSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : totalSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | spendUnits}}

Total nights spent

{{ totalNightsPerc == 'Infinity' ? '-' : totalNightsPerc >= 0 ? '+' + totalNightsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : totalNightsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | fixUnits}}

Average length of stay (Nights)

{{ isNaN(avgStayPerc) ? '-' : avgStayPerc >= 0 ? '+' + avgStayPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : avgStayPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data.toFixed(2)}}

Average spend per visit (GBP)

{{ isNaN(avgSpendPerc) ? '-' : avgSpendPerc >= 0 ? '+' + avgSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : avgSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | spendUnits(0, 'hideUnit')}}

* Change from {{Number(activeYear.name) - 1}}

Chart
Table

	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[1].name}}		{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[0].name}}
	Visits	% total	Visits	% total
{{item}}	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %

Chart
Table

		{{journeyBox.visits.data[1].name}}				{{journeyBox.visits.data[0].name}}
	Visits	% total	Nights	% total	Visits	% total	Nights	% total
{{item}}	{{journeyBox.visits.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{journeyBox.visits.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{journeyBox.nights.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{journeyBox.nights.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{journeyBox.visits.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{journeyBox.visits.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{journeyBox.nights.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{journeyBox.nights.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %

Chart
Table

	{{durationBox.visits.data[1].name}}		{{durationBox.visits.data[0].name}}
	Visits	% total	Visits	% total
{{item}}	{{durationBox.visits.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{durationBox.visits.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{durationBox.visits.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{durationBox.visits.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %

Access to Britain from South Africa


Measure	2019
Weekly aircraft departures	51
Weekly seat capacity	15,927
Airports with direct routes in South Africa	3
Airports with direct routes in Britain	2

In 2019, 3 airports in South Africa served 2 British airports: London Heathrow and London Gatwick
In 2019, weekly flight departures increased by 15% on 2018
Out of all the airlines to operate the South African to Britain route in 2019, British Airways served the most departing seats, with a 66% share
In 2019, average weekly seat capacity grew by 11% compared to the previous year
In 2019, the highest share of departing seats came from the Johannesburg to London Heathrow route, with a 71% share
The current reduced rate of Air Passenger Duty for visitors departing Britain for South Africa is £78

Markets

Markets

South Africa

South Africa