By Dominique Herman
South Africa's growth in the number of international visitors was almost double that of the rest of the world in 2005 and the Western Cape experienced the highest-ever number of tourists in its traditionally off-season, according to the 2005/6 annual report of destination tourism agency Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU).
Globally, international arrivals reached 808 million in 2005, representing a 5,5 percent growth from 766m in 2004.
South Africa attained a 10,3 percent growth rate in international arrivals in 2005 - from 6,7m in 2004 to 7,4m in 2005.
There was a 25,6 percent increase in total foreign direct spend, from R31,4 billion between January and September 2004 to R39,4bn during the same period in 2005, exceeding the global, Africa and regional average growth rates in receipts.
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The Western Cape reflected a similarly high 7,43 percent growth rate in international arrivals between January and September 2005. The highest growth, of 13,1 percent, was recorded in the third quarter (July-September).
"Very encouraging was the above average growth (6,37 percent) in international arrivals within the low season months of April-May-June between 2004 and 2005," said outgoing CTRU chief executive Noki Dube.
She added that full annual figures for 2005 were not available yet from SA Tourism, but it was expected that the province would have received about 1,6m international arrivals for the year, attaining 6,9 percent growth over 2004. October, November and December were traditionally high performing months.
CTRU identified potential growth opportunities for the region emerging from the African market - Nigeria and Kenya, in particular. Namibia remained a core African source market. Internationally, India, China and the Middle East were where the new market opportunities lay.
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