Pretoria – The leading eight countries whose citizens visit South Africa are the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Netherlands, France, Australia, Sweden and Ireland, all known for their passion for soccer.
The figures are from the latest tourism and migration report released by Statistic South Africa.

“Overseas travellers came mainly from Europe with 70.8 percent followed by North America 11.7pecent, Asia 9.6 percent, Australasia 4.2 percent, Central and South America 2.2 percent and Middle East with 1.6 percent,” Stats SA said in its report.

“Travellers from these eight countries constitute 67.2 percent of all travellers from overseas.”

Qualifying rounds for the 2010 FIFA World Cup have kicked of in various regions around the world with best soccer loving nations hoping to book their place in the tournament.

The tourism sector has become one of country’s largest contributors to gross domestic product (GDP).

According to data from South Africa Tourism foreign arrivals have contributed more than R79 billion to South Africa’s economy.

It is also expected make up about 12 percent of the country's GDP by the time the 2010 FIFA World Cup comes around, said the Chief Executive Officer of SA Tourism Moeketsi Mosola, at the launch of Tourism month in 2007.

"We are expecting some 450 000 international travellers in the space of six weeks," he said, adding that South Africa was more than capable of handling the influx of soccer fans.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw held in November 2007 has also been highlighted as one of the country’s greatest tourism successes.

The estimated number of foreign travellers who visited South Africa through all its ports of entry during November was up 6.5 percent.

The number of visitors increased from 756 440 in November 2006 to 805 4000 in the same month in 2007.

The data revealed that overseas travellers had 132 528 males and 98 819 females.

An estimated 97.5 percent arrivals from Africa came from the SADC countries.

The eight leading source countries from SADC were Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Malawi.

“Whereas 94.2 percent of travellers from the SADC countries were recorded as on holiday, 82 percent of travellers from ‘other’ African countries were admitted on visitor’s permit,” says the report.

The tourism industry also contributes significantly to job creation in the formal sector as well as creating opportunities for entrepreneurs. – BuaNews