{"id":137871,"date":"2016-09-25T19:02:33","date_gmt":"2016-09-25T17:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=137871"},"modified":"2016-09-23T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T15:06:09","slug":"how-much-the-average-tourist-spends-in-south-africas-biggest-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/137871\/how-much-the-average-tourist-spends-in-south-africas-biggest-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"How much the average tourist spends in South Africa’s biggest cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest Global Destinations Index by MasterCard shows that South Africa is seeing tourists spending less money, despite a bigger number of travellers visiting Cape Town and Joburg in 2016.<\/p>\n

The Index, published annually, provides a ranking of the 132 most visited cities around the world, and projects visitor volume and spend estimates for the 2016 calendar year.<\/p>\n

According to the index, both Joburg and Cape Town saw a higher number of travellers visiting in 2016 than in 2015, when the country suffered a significant slump.<\/p>\n

However, despite the increase in feet through the door, travellers have been spending less – keeping with a declining trend in visitor spend since 2012.<\/p>\n

Joburg remains the most popular destination city in the country, having seen 3.6 million travellers stay overnight in the city. Cape Town follows with just under 1.4 million visitors.<\/p>\n

In terms of visitor spending, in 2016 Joburg saw $1.7 billion from travellers (R6,525 per person), while Cape Town received $1 billion (R9,912 per person). Over the past 5 years, average spend per visitor has been dropping, though Cape Town remains firmly ahead of Joburg.<\/p>\n

The following graphs and tables show the visitor and spending trend in Johannesburg and Cape Town over the past 5 years.<\/p>\n

\n

\"overnight-visitors\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"total-visitor-spend\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"average-visitor-spend\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Johannesburg<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\n2012<\/th>\n2013<\/th>\n2014<\/th>\n2015<\/th>\n2016<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Overnight visitors (millions)<\/td>\n3.81<\/td>\n3.71<\/td>\n3.80<\/td>\n3.39<\/td>\n3.60<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total spend (ZARbn)<\/td>\n51.74<\/td>\n35.99<\/td>\n32.73<\/td>\n27.02<\/td>\n23.49<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Average spend (ZAR)<\/td>\n13 580<\/td>\n9 700<\/td>\n8 613<\/td>\n7 970<\/td>\n6 525<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cape Town<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\n2012<\/th>\n2013<\/th>\n2014<\/th>\n2015<\/th>\n2016<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Overnight visitors (millions)<\/td>\n1.51<\/td>\n1.33<\/td>\n1.39<\/td>\n1.29<\/td>\n1.37<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total spend (ZARbn)<\/td>\n23.49<\/td>\n18.47<\/td>\n18.20<\/td>\n15.62<\/td>\n13.58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Average spend (ZAR)<\/td>\n20 426<\/td>\n13 887<\/td>\n13 093<\/td>\n12 108<\/td>\n9 912<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Conversions done at 1 USD = 13.58 ZAR<\/em><\/p>\n

According to the study, Bangkok is projected to receive 21.47 million international overnight visitors in 2016, just ahead of second-ranked London. Forecasted international overnight visitors to the rest of the top 10 cities include:<\/p>\n