South Africa’s foreign policy rhetoric and its tourism numbers tell two different stories. New Stats SA data shows nearly 190,000 Americans visited SA in the first half of 2026 — almost double the combined total from Brazil, Russia, India and China, SA’s own BRICS partners. The UK and Germany added further evidence: together with the US, these three Western economies supplied more than five times as many visitors as all of BRICS. While Pretoria champions the bloc as a pillar of a “new global order,” the people actually travelling, investing and connecting with South Africa keep pointing firmly West.
From The Common Sense
Nearly 190 000 visitors from the United States (US) arrived in South Africa during the first half of 2026. That was almost twice the combined number arriving from Brazil, Russia, India, and China, South Africa’s partners in the BRICS group.
Together, South Africa’s four BRICS partners supplied only 100 601 visitors between January and June 2026.
The US alone supplied 187 977 in that period.
The figures, contained in the latest foreign tourism data from Statistics South Africa, show a clear divide between the government’s diplomatic priorities and the countries with which South Africa retains its strongest human and commercial connections.
Overall, South Africa received 1 176 106 overseas visitors during the first half of 2026. This was 5.6% higher than the 1 113 746 visitors recorded during the same period in 2025.
Visitor numbers from the US declined slightly, falling from 190 537 in the first half of 2025 to 187 977 in 2026. This was a decrease of just over 1.0%.
BRICS tourism performed even worse.
The combined number of visitors from Brazil, Russia, India, and China fell from 104 492 in the first half of 2025 to 100 601 in the first half of 2026, a decline of 3.7%.
The United Kingdom (UK) remained South Africa’s largest major overseas tourism market. It supplied 209 596 visitors during the first half of 2026, up 5.1% from 199 334 for the same period in the previous year.
Germany supplied another 155 599 visitors, a sharp increase of 16.9% from 133 151 during the first half of 2025.
The US, UK, and Germany were the only countries that supplied more than 100 000 visitors to South Africa for the first half of 2026.
These three countries therefore supplied a combined 553 172 visitors to South Africa during the first six months of the year, accounting for nearly half of the total number of overseas visitors to South Africa.
That was more than five times the number supplied by South Africa’s four BRICS partners.
The chart below shows the number of people who visited South Africa between January and June 2025 and January and June 2026 from the US, UK, Germany, and the BRICS countries.
Tourism figures are about more than holidays. They reflect business relationships, family connections, investment links, flight routes, cultural familiarity, and the ease with which people move between countries.
They also provide a useful indication of where South Africa’s strongest international relationships remain.
The government has invested considerable political energy in BRICS and regularly presents the bloc as the foundation of a new global order. Yet ordinary economic and personal connections continue to point in a different direction.
Far more people travel to South Africa from the US, UK, and Germany than from Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
Tourism does not determine foreign policy. However, it shows why South Africa should be cautious about weakening its relationships with Western economies that remain major sources of visitors, trade, investment, and opportunity.
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