International tourism, expenditures in South Africa
South Africa: International tourism, expenditures was 2.0% in 2020. ▼ Falling
International tourism, expenditures in South Africa, 1995–2020
Source: Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism. Measured in % of total imports.
Analysis
In 2020, international tourism, expenditures in South Africa stood at 2.0%. That is the lowest value across all 26 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 64.3% on the previous year and down 74.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, international tourism, expenditures in South Africa peaked at 9.0% in 1999 and was at its lowest, 2.0%, in 2020.
That places South Africa 147th out of 186 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 26 years of available data.
International tourism, expenditures in South Africa, year by year
| Year | % of total imports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 7.2% | — |
| 1996 | 7.0% | -3.6% |
| 1997 | 7.3% | +5.3% |
| 1998 | 7.6% | +3.6% |
| 1999 | 9.0% | +17.9% |
| 2000 | 8.1% | -9.6% |
| 2001 | 7.6% | -6.1% |
| 2002 | 6.9% | -9.2% |
| 2003 | 8.4% | +21.9% |
| 2004 | 7.2% | -14.7% |
| 2005 | 7.0% | -2.8% |
| 2006 | 6.3% | -10.7% |
| 2007 | 6.3% | +0.3% |
| 2008 | 6.4% | +2.1% |
| 2009 | 7.8% | +22.2% |
| 2010 | 7.9% | +1.0% |
| 2011 | 6.8% | -13.9% |
| 2012 | 5.8% | -15.0% |
| 2013 | 5.3% | -8.1% |
| 2014 | 5.4% | +2.3% |
| 2015 | 5.7% | +4.7% |
| 2016 | 6.0% | +4.6% |
| 2017 | 6.1% | +2.1% |
| 2018 | 5.8% | -4.5% |
| 2019 | 5.6% | -2.7% |
| 2020 | 2.0% | -64.3% |
South Africa compared with similar countries
- South Africa's 2.0% is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is 3.1%, 66% of the median. (55 countries reporting)
- South Africa's 2.0% is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 3.6%, 56% of the median. (43 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where International tourism, expenditures in South Africa changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | -64.3% | 5.6% | 2.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 7.6% | 7.0% | 9.0% | 5 |
| 2000s | 7.2% | 6.3% | 8.4% | 10 |
| 2010s | 6.0% | 5.3% | 7.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 2.0% | 2.0% | 2.0% | 1 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More private sector data for South Africa
- Merchandise trade 57.2% (2025)
- Food imports 7.2% (2025)
- Manufactures imports 62.1% (2025)
- Merchandise imports 128.08 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 12.8% (2025)
- Manufactures exports 38.3% (2025)
- Merchandise exports 116.40 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 1,798 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.2725 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 5.74 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is international tourism, expenditures in South Africa?
- International tourism, expenditures in South Africa was 2.0% in 2020, according to Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism.
- What is the highest international tourism, expenditures recorded in South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 9.0% in 1999.
- What is the lowest international tourism, expenditures recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 2.0% in 2020.
- How does South Africa rank for international tourism, expenditures?
- South Africa ranks 147th out of 186 countries with data for 2020.
- Is international tourism, expenditures rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is down 74.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this South Africa data come from?
- The figures come from Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism, published as part of International tourism, expenditures (% of total imports). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 26 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
International tourism expenditures are expenditures of international outbound visitors in other countries, including payments to foreign carriers for international transport. These expenditures may include those by residents traveling abroad as same-day visitors, except in cases where these are important enough to justify separate classification. For some countries they do not include expenditures for passenger transport items. Their share in imports is calculated as a ratio to imports of goods and services, which comprise all transactions between residents of a country and the rest of the world involving a change of ownership from nonresidents to residents of general merchandise, goods sent for processing and repairs, nonmonetary gold, and services.