JOHANNESBURG: The US surpassed the UK, which had held the top spot since 1994, to become South Africa's top foreign tourist market for the first time in 2021, African Tourism has said.
As per the statement from the government's tourism marketing division, the US led all foreign markets in terms of tourist revenue in 2021 with 2.3 billion South African rands (about USD 143.8 million), and the average tourist expenditure of 31,100 rands was higher than the 22,900 rand level seen in 2018 before the pandemic.
The increase was mostly driven by leisure tourism activities and shopping, which scaled up by 17 percent and 22 percent respectively, it said.
The US continued to lead the surge in arrivals in 2021, with a total of 82,020 arrivals, a 14% increase over 2020. Nevertheless, the overall number of arrivals is still significantly lower than it was before the epidemic, with 373,694 US citizens travelling to South Africa in 2019 -second only to the UK's 436,559.
According to statistics, the top 5 activities that drew US tourists in 2021 were the same as they were in 2019. These activities included eating out, shopping, seeing wildlife, visiting natural wonders, and socialising. The percentage of Americans travelling for the first time rose to 70.1% in 2021, the statement read.
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