CAPE TOWN, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- South African Tourism Minister Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane vowed on Wednesday to reverse a downtrend in tourist arrivals by addressing concerns raised by key markets.
Kubayi-Ngubane was responding to the latest figures released by Statistics South Africa that total tourist arrivals fell 2.1 percent from January to September this year, compared with the same period last year.
In the first nine months this year, South Africa received 7,562,743 international tourists, 164,989 fewer than the 7,727,732 tourists who visited the country in the same period last year, according to the figures.
The decline was mostly influenced by a drop in arrivals from Australasia and Europe, down 5 percent and 3.9 percent respectively.
"The major impact on the numbers has been the concerns around safety and security of the tourist in our country," Kubayi-Ngubane said.
Strict visa regulations also discourage tourists from visiting South Africa.
Kubayi-Ngubane said her department and its stakeholders will, at the beginning of December, jointly announce a tourism safety strategy and implementation plans to address concerns raised by South Africa's key markets.
"We are committed to reaching the target of 21 million arrivals by 2030 and we are working with all the stakeholders in the sector to make this a reality," she said.
The target was set by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he came to power last year.
"We realize as we work towards this target, we might experience some fluctuations, but we will ensure that the overall trajectory remains positive," the minister said.
Kubayi-Ngubane recently led delegations to such markets as China, Japan, Ghana and Nigeria to help raise tourists arrivals.
