Abstract
The business of international tourism is a growth industry and key driver for economic
development in many countries. For national and local policy makers the attraction of international
tourists is of major importance for economic and social development. Understanding the flows and
impacts of international tourism is a vibrant issue in global tourism scholarship. Although the global
flows of international tourism are well documented, much less understood are the spatial patterns of
international tourists within national territories. The objective in this paper is to analyse scientifically
the overall economic geography of international tourism flows in South Africa. An uneven geographical
pattern of development of international tourism is disclosed for the period 2001-2012. In interpreting
this spatial distribution it is argued that a conceptual distinction be drawn between the different
mobilities of South Africa’s cohorts of long haul as opposed to regional African visitors. The economic
geography of international tourism in South Africa is a composite of these two sets of visitors and of
their differential flows variously for purposes of leisure, business and VFR travel.