German tourism to South Africa grew by 9.9 percent in the first 11 months of last year compared to all 12 months of 2010, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said.
“Germany is the third-biggest overseas tourism market for South Africa and contributes to nine percent of the gross domestic product through tourist spend,” he said in a statement.
From January to November, arrivals from Germany peaked at 211,000.
Van Schalkwyk visited the ITB Travel Trade Show in Berlin this week to market South Africa to Germans.
“Statistics also show that a total of 40 percent of German tourists to South Africa are repeat visitors. This is very high and it testifies to the attractiveness of our destination,” he said.
Between January and December 2009, a total of 196,643 German tourists visited South Africa.
Van Schalkwyk said the outlook for the world's travel industry remained good despite the uncertain economic situation in Europe and around the world.
“The global growth was not as strong as in 2010 but tourist arrivals still grew to a staggering 980 million in 2011.”
SA Tourism's research showed there was still much scope in this market, and more needed to be done to create demand among the younger travellers who were considering South Africa, the minister said. - Sapa