June tourist accommodation up 7.9% y/y

The survey is conducted monthly and covers a sample of public and private enterprises involved in the short-stay accommodation sector‚ with the results used to compile estimates of tourism satellite accounts as well as the gross domestic product.

Stats SA said that the June income from accommodation was due to a 2.7% increase in the number of stay-unit nights sold and a 5.1% rise in the average income per stay-unit night sold.

Stats SA describes a stay-unit as a unit of accommodation available to be charged out to guests. Examples include a powered site in a caravan park or a hotel room.

The types of accommodation that recorded the highest year-on-year growth in income from accommodation in June were other accommodation (12.7%)‚ guesthouses and guest farms (10.1%)‚ hotels (6.0%) and caravan parks and camping sites (5.2%).

Auditing firm PwC in June projected total room revenue in SA to grow at a compound annual rate of 9.2% from now until 2017 after overall spending on rooms in all categories rose by 13.4% last year to R15.2bn‚ reflecting an increase in stay-unit nights and a 5.3% rise in the average room rate.

President Jacob Zuma said SA had achieved 10.2% growth in the number of international tourists coming to South Africa last year‚ outstripping the average global growth rate of about 4% as estimated by the UN World Tourism Organisation.

A total of 9.2m international tourists came to SA last year‚ compared with 8.3m in 2011. They spent R76.4bn‚ 7.6% more than in 2011.

PwC said that despite the stagnating economic climate‚ SA's hospitality sector was poised for further strong growth in the next five years‚ fuelled by a record number of inbound travellers into the African continent.