The eSwatini Tourism Authority (ETA) Research and Statistics Office concluded in a report released on Thursday that foreign visitor arrivals to the country recorded a total of 1.277 million in 2018, which translates to a decline of 5.1 percent from 2017.
According to the report the downward trend was due to reduced demand for leisure travel as consumers reprioritised household expenditures for varying reasons, which include lowered disposable household income, cyclical nature of leisure travel preferences and economic uncertainties within source markets.
“Globally, 2018 was depicted by economic uncertainties, political tensions and lowered household disposable incomes, which when combined had adverse effects on travel and tourism,” it was reported.
eSwatini’s key markets; South Africa (-2.2 percent), Mozambique (-9.3 percent), Germany (-6.0 percent), Netherlands (-25.1 percent), France (-25.4 percent), United Kingdom (-15.7 percent) and the United States (-14.5 percent) all registered significant declines during the period in review, as stated by the report.