2.9m travellers in SA in August

The travellers were made up of 802‚323 South African residents and 2.1m foreign travellers.

A further breakdown of the figures for South African residents indicated that there were 389‚231 and 413‚092 arrivals and departures respectively.

The corresponding volumes for foreign arrivals and departures were 1.2m and 977‚104 respectively.

The volume of arrivals for both South African residents and foreign travellers decreased while the volume of departures increased.

The volume of arrivals for South African residents decreased by 20.0% from 499‚178 in July to 389‚231 in August‚ while for foreign travellers‚ the arrivals decreased by 2.8% from 1.2m to 1.1m.

For departures‚ the volume for South African residents increased by 2.0% (from 405‚004 in July to 413‚092 in August) and by 4.4% (from 935‚495 to 977‚104 in July) for foreign travellers.

A comparison between the movements in August 2011 and August this year indicated that the volumes of arrivals and departures decreased for South African residents while the volumes increased for foreign travellers.

Travellers who cross South Africa's borders rarely use trains and ships since these are mainly used for transporting goods‚ Stats SA said. Road transport was the most common mode of travel used by 2.1m out of the 2.9m travellers.

Souirce: Sapa via I-Net Bridge