Namibians continue to show a strong preference for South Africa as a travel destination, with 123,402 tourists visiting the neighbouring country during the first nine months of 2026, according to Statistics South Africa.
The agency’s September 2026 International Tourism Report shows that an average of about 13,700 Namibian tourists visited South Africa each month between January and September, although total arrivals declined by 1.9% from the 125,791 recorded during the corresponding period in 2025.
In September alone, 13,923 Namibian tourists travelled to South Africa, representing a 9.5% decline from the 15,392 recorded during the same month last year.
The decrease of 1,469 visitors came despite an overall increase in tourist arrivals from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which rose by 2.1% to 659,613 during September, compared with 645,745 a year earlier.
Namibia remained South Africa’s seventh-largest source of tourists within SADC, accounting for 2.1% of regional arrivals during the month.
The report shows that holidays remained the main reason Namibians travelled to South Africa, with 9,961 visitors, representing 71.5% of September arrivals, travelling for leisure.
Business travel accounted for 3,743 visitors, or 26.9%, while 207 Namibians travelled for study purposes and 12 for medical treatment.
Road transport remained the preferred mode of travel, with 9,138 Namibian tourists, representing 65.6% of arrivals, entering South Africa by road.
The remaining 4,785 tourists, or 34.4%, travelled by air.
Overall, South Africa received 835,380 international tourists in September 2026, representing a 1.3% decline from the 846,367 recorded during the corresponding month in 2025.
Statistics South Africa noted that some ports of entry and exit had incomplete data due to network coverage challenges, which the Department of Home Affairs is working to address.
