At TravelManor, there is nothing we love more than spotting a silver lining on a dark cloud. So while we are very aware of all the challenges South African travel businesses face on a daily basis, we are also excited to share a little happy news now and again.
So, here’s the good news! A 200-page report that was published in November 2022 showed cause for optimism about the SA travel and tourism industry. According to this piece published on ResearchAndMarkets.com, 9.3 million travellers (total arrivals and departures of both international and South Africans) passed through South African ports of entry and exit in 2021, and 8.8 million travellers passed through in the first half of 2022. This is more than double the first half of 2021.
This is excellent news for the RSA tourism sector, which was one of the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown measures that were put in place to curb the spread of the disease. In fact, 500 000+ jobs were lost across the industry during this time. With things returning to a ‘new normal’, the hope is now that our extensive travel and tourism value chain will be back to full labour-creation capacity.
Here are even more reasons to be optimistic about SA travel & tourism in 2023 and beyond:
According to the latest Economic Impact Report released by the World Travel & Tourism Council, SA's tourism sector is forecast to grow at an average rate of 7.6% per year over the next decade. This projection significantly outstrips the 1.8% of the country’s overall economies.
Delta Airlines launched a direct flight between Atlanta and Cape Town in 2022, and it has proven to be exceptionally popular with visitors from the USA. What initially started out as three direct flights per week, has now been extended to daily flights to keep up with demand.
We hope you are as excited as we are to see how things unfold in our important industry over the next few years. Keep an eye on our blog to learn more about advances in travel tech, amazing ways to supercharge corporate travel, and so much more. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to our team of highly skilled corporate travel planners to learn more about the services we offer at TravelManor.
