Travelers spark rising interest in guest houses and farms
Hotels continue to be the most popular holiday accommodation type, although guest houses and guest farms are catching up with income from the overall sector having exceeded the figure captured just before COVID-19.
Hotels continue to be the most popular holiday accommodation type, although guest houses and guest farms are catching up with income from the overall sector having exceeded the figure captured just before Covid-19.
This is according to Statistics South Africa's latest print on tourist accommodation, which covers February this year. This data indicates that income from lodgings, on a seasonally adjusted basis, is now at the highest level it has been at since at least January 2020.
Between December last year and February 2025, the tourist accommodation sector accounted for R9 billion, with R2.8bn of that amount having been earned in February.
Year-on-year, income from accommodation increased by 12.2% in February. This was the result of a 2.4% increase in the number of stay unit nights sold and a 9.5% increase in the average income per stay unit night sold.
Over a three-month period (last December to this February) the gain in income was 13.8%.
The tourism industry was expected to contribute 8.8% of South Africa's total gross domestic product last year, contributing more to economic growth than transport, mining, and agriculture.
Last August, Minister of Tourism, Patricia De Lille, said that South Africa's tourism sector employed 1.46 million people in 2023, a figure that is projected to grow to 2.23 million jobs in 2030.
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