The Contemporary Tourist

Intelligence

Tourism Intelligence Dashboard

ZAF

South Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

South Africa is a tourism destination in Sub-Saharan Africa . This dashboard presents the best available tourism indicators and historical arrivals data from official sources.

Compare South Africa →Browse all countries

International Tourist Arrivals

10,498,506

Latest verified value · 2025

International Tourism Receipts

$6.7B

Latest verified value · 2024

Tourism Direct Share of GDP

4.9%

Latest verified value · 2024

TCTI Destination Profile

Growing tourism destination

South Africa has recorded steady tourism growth. This profile is calculated from the best available annual and monthly tourism records currently held by TCTI.

Executive tourism profile for South Africa

Profile confidence

50

/ 100

Confidence reflects the intelligence modules currently supported by compatible source data.

Growth profile

Steady growth

Seasonality profile

Not yet available

What this means

  • Steady growth suggests sustained tourism demand rather than a short-lived increase.

The destination profile combines TCTI's available growth and seasonality intelligence. Confidence reflects whether both compatible annual-arrivals and monthly-tourist-night datasets are available.

Tourism Intelligence

Executive summary

A concise interpretation of the strongest official tourism records currently available for South Africa.

4 indicators available
Sub-Saharan Africa
Upper middle income

South Africa is a tourism destination in Sub-Saharan Africa . This dashboard presents the best available tourism indicators and historical arrivals data from official sources.

International tourist arrivals were 10,498,506 in 2025. International tourism receipts were $6.7B in 2024. Tourism's direct contribution to GDP was 4.9% in 2024. Tourism's direct share of employment was 5.7% in 2024.

The figures shown here are drawn from OECD and UN Tourism. Reporting years may differ between indicators because TCTI displays the strongest verified or published value currently available for each measure.

Derived Intelligence

Tourism growth

How international tourist arrivals changed between 2015 and 2025.

TCTI Growth Insight

Steady growth

Confidence

95%

South Africa's international tourist arrivals increased by 17.9% between 2015 and 2025. This is equivalent to an average annual growth rate of +1.7%. The sharpest annual decline was 72.6% in 2020.

Total growth

+17.9%

2015 to 2025

Average annual growth

+1.7%

Compound annual growth rate

Starting arrivals

8.9M

Reported in 2015

Latest arrivals

10.5M

Reported in 2025

Largest annual increase

+152.6%

Change recorded in 2022

Largest annual decline

-72.6%

Change recorded in 2020

What this means

  • Long-term growth trends can indicate changes in destination popularity.
  • Growth should be interpreted alongside seasonality, visitor spending, and tourism dependence.

Growth is calculated using the earliest and latest available international arrivals data held by TCTI. Results may reflect gaps or methodological changes in the underlying series.

Key Tourism Indicators

Tourism performance at a glance

Verified tourism indicators currently available for South Africa. Reporting years may differ by dataset.

2025

International Tourist Arrivals

10,498,506

OECD · 2025

OECD Inbound Tourism

VerifiedCurrent
2024

International Tourism Receipts

$6.7B

UN Tourism · 2024

International Tourism Receipts

VerifiedCurrent
2024

Tourism Direct Share of GDP

4.9%

OECD · 2024

OECD Key Tourism Economic Indicators

VerifiedCurrent
2024

Tourism Employment Share

5.7%

OECD · 2024

OECD Key Tourism Economic Indicators

VerifiedCurrent

Rankings & Comparisons

How South Africa compares

Positions use each country's best currently available official record. Years can differ, so use these as directional benchmarks rather than synchronized league tables.

Data Availability

67% dashboard coverage

4 of 6 dashboard indicators currently have usable official data for South Africa.

4 current0 reporting lag0 historical

Available

  • ✓International Tourist Arrivals · 2025 · Current
  • ✓International Tourism Receipts · 2024 · Current
  • ✓Tourism Direct Share of GDP · 2024 · Current
  • ✓Tourism Employment Share · 2024 · Current

Not Yet Available

  • ○Tourist Nights
  • ○Resident Tourism Trips

Official Sources

Data sources used for South Africa

These organizations and datasets provide the indicators currently displayed on this country dashboard.

✓

OECD

Latest displayed year: 2025

Official

Indicators

  • • International Tourist Arrivals
  • • Tourism Direct Share of GDP
  • • Tourism Employment Share

Datasets

  • OECD Inbound Tourism
  • OECD Key Tourism Economic Indicators
✓

UN Tourism

Latest displayed year: 2024

Official

Indicators

  • • International Tourism Receipts

Datasets

  • International Tourism Receipts
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Historical Trend

International arrivals over time

Annual international tourist arrivals reported for South Africa. Values are shown in millions.

Source: OECDYears: 2015–2025Annual data

Dataset: OECD Inbound Tourism

About the Data

Best available official data

TCTI evaluates available tourism records by reporting status, year, source priority, official-source status, and publication history. The dashboard displays the strongest available record while preserving historical observations and alternative sources in the database.