JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- South Africa received nearly 1 million foreign tourists in July, up 12.5 percent from a year earlier, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said Wednesday.
The number of overnight visitors, or tourists, reached 991,696 in July, compared with 881,393 in the same month last year, according to Stats SA's latest International Tourism report.
A total of 3.15 million travelers, including arrivals, departures and transit passengers, passed through South Africa's ports of entry and exit during the month. Of them, about 2.31 million were foreign travelers and 844,503 were South African residents.
Among 1.27 million foreign arrivals, 1.24 million were classified as visitors, including 251,049 same-day visitors and 991,696 overnight tourists.
Tourists from countries in the Southern African Development Community continued to account for the largest share, totaling 785,469 in July. Another 193,637 tourists came from overseas markets, while 11,751 came from other African countries.
Among overseas tourists, Europe remained the largest source region, with 97,461 arrivals, followed by North America with 41,037, according to the report.
The United States was the largest individual overseas source market, with 37,310 tourists, followed by Britain with 25,024 and the Netherlands with 17,066. France recorded the strongest year-on-year increase among the leading overseas markets, with arrivals rising 24.9 percent to 12,496.
