By a Correspondent
South Africa’s tourism sector is increasingly relying on visitors from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to sustain growth, even as arrivals from major West African markets such as Nigeria and Ghana decline.
The shift highlights the growing importance of regional travel to South Africa’s tourism economy, with neighbouring countries accounting for the bulk of international visitors and helping to offset weaker performance in some long-haul and non-SADC African markets.
According to the latest tourism data, SADC visitors accounted for 73.5% of all tourists arriving in South Africa in March, with Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho emerging as the biggest regional source markets.
Mozambique contributed 208 306 visitors, followed by Zimbabwe with 179 403 and Lesotho with 108 482. Together, the three markets accounted for about 74% of all SADC tourists recorded during the month.
Eswatini, by contrast, moved in the opposite direction, falling 12.7% from 70 954 tourists in June 2025 to 61 960 in June 2026, according to the report.
By comparison, visitors from African countries outside the SADC region represented just 1.8% of total tourist arrivals. Kenya was the leading source market in this category, followed by Ghana and Nigeria.
Ghana recorded 4 008 visitors, while Nigeria contributed 2 507.
The figures underline the extent to which South Africa’s tourism recovery is being driven by regional mobility, particularly road travel, which remains an important component of cross-border tourism.
South Africa recorded 911 962 international tourist arrivals in March 2026, representing a 12.5% increase compared with the same month a year earlier. Between January and March, the country received 2.91 million inbound travellers, according to official tourism data.
The broader tourism sector has maintained its strong recovery momentum. International tourist arrivals rose by 12.8% to 4.22 million between January and May 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, while arrivals from African markets increased by 14.7%.
The growth is economically significant for South Africa, where tourism remains a major source of employment and foreign exchange. The sector supported nearly 954 000 direct jobs in 2024, according to government data, while the country welcomed a record 10.5 million international arrivals in 2025.
For businesses operating across hospitality, transport, retail and entertainment, the changing visitor profile presents both opportunities and challenges.
The strong performance of SADC markets suggests that regional tourism could become an even more important pillar of South Africa’s growth strategy. Proximity, established transport links and relatively shorter travel times make neighbouring countries a potentially resilient source of visitors, particularly when international air travel becomes more expensive or vulnerable to disruption.
The figures also point to an opportunity for tourism operators to develop products specifically tailored to regional travellers, including affordable accommodation, cross-border travel packages, family tourism and short-stay experiences.
At the same time, the decline in arrivals from markets such as Nigeria and Ghana highlights the need for South Africa to maintain a diversified tourism strategy. While regional visitors provide volume, long-haul and high-spending international tourists remain important to tourism revenues and the wider economy.
South Africa’s tourism authorities have been seeking to expand the country’s appeal through improved infrastructure, greater ease of access and diversified tourism offerings. The continued rise in arrivals in 2026 suggests that these efforts, combined with strong regional demand, are supporting the sector’s recovery.
The challenge for the industry will now be to convert rising visitor numbers into stronger tourism spending, longer stays and wider economic benefits for businesses and communities across the country.