A view of Camps Bay, one of South Africa’s popular tourist spots for adventure travellers. Picture: Unsplash
South Africa is a popular adventure destination for scores of people as the country has many beautiful places to explore.
According to a South African Tourism (SAT) survey, the Western Cape was the adventure capital of South Africa for the period of January to December 2023.
During this time, it attracted 85% of all the adventure tourists coming into the country. That’s an estimated 614 500 tourists and this represents a recovery of 82% of the figures which were recorded in 2019.
SAT also revealed that the province collected 62% of the overall spend by adventure tourists, which is driven by these visitors spending on average R22 200 ,leading to a total of R13.5 billion.
The collected data also revealed that the Northern Cape lead on average spend with R26 700 in 2023 (although the volume was low).
This was more than three times the average spend pre-pandemic in 2019. The Western Cape also saw the highest number of bed nights among the provinces with bed nights recovery in the market at 72%.
So where do adventure tourists explore? Here are the top attractions for adventure seekers, according to the survey.
– The V&A Waterfront
– Camps Bay
– Cape Point
– Table Mountain
– Clifton Beach
– Cango Caves
– The Kruger National Park
– Blyde River Canyon/ God’s Window
– Bourke’s Luck Potholes
– The Addo Elephant Park
– Storm’s River
– Hazyview
– The Bloukrans Bridge - Tsitsikamma Tree Top Canopy
– Tours of Soweto
Meanwhile, a high proportion of adventure tourists visiting chose the Western Cape. In fact, the top 13 attractions were within the Western Cape. Overall tourists mostly visit the same attractions and adventure tourists are more inclined to these outdoor attractions.