South Africa’s foreign tourism sector is showing a strong and sustained recovery, with the number of overseas visitors climbing 27.6% year-on-year in September 2025.

Stats SA recorded 181 802 overseas tourists for the month, of which an overwhelming 177 653 arrived for holidays rather than business or study. This pattern confirms that the post-pandemic rebound remains driven by leisure travel rather than corporate demand.

Visitors from traditional Western markets continue to dominate the long-haul segment. The United States was South Africa’s largest overseas source market with 33 985 arrivals in September, followed by the United Kingdom with 25 513 and Germany with 18 276. Together these three countries made up more than 40% of all overseas tourists. Compared to September 2024, visitor numbers from Europe as a region were up by 29.2% while those from North America rose 22.1% in September of this year, indicating that demand is up across the developed world.

Several key countries showed particularly strong gains. The United Kingdom recorded a 35.2% increase compared with the same month last year, Germany rose 30.9% and France 24.6%. From further afield, Australia grew 48.0% and Canada 46.9%.

In Asia, results were uneven: visitor numbers from Japan rose 45.6% and from Thailand 45.7%, while arrivals from China and Singapore fell more than 20%.

These results are very encouraging for South Africa’s tourism sector which acts as an important economic multiplier.