Johannesburg receives more international overnight visitors than any other African city, and the majority of what those visitors spend goes on shopping, then accommodation, then eating out. For a small business the ranking itself is worthless. The spend breakdown is not, because it says which categories the money actually reaches.
Cape Town, Lagos, Casablanca, Cairo and Durban follow in visitor volume, and the same pattern of retail-led spending holds across most of them.
Business travel is a different market from leisure travel
Johannesburg’s position is driven substantially by conferences, trade and corporate travel rather than by holidaymakers. That changes everything about how a business serves it: weekday rather than weekend demand, shorter stays, company payment terms rather than card-on-arrival, invoicing requirements, and buyers who value reliability and proximity far above novelty.
Shopping being the largest category is the opening
When retail is where visitors spend most, the businesses that capture it are the ones stocking something a visitor cannot buy at home. Locally made goods, local design and food products do that. Generic retail competes against what the visitor already has, at a worse exchange rate. A small producer’s route into this spend is usually through stockists near the places visitors actually go rather than through a shop of their own.
Visitor spend growing faster than the economy is the real signal
When international expenditure in a city rises several times faster than national economic growth, tourism is doing something the wider economy is not. For an owner deciding where to put effort, a category growing against the trend is worth more attention than a larger category that is flat.
Serving visitors indirectly is often the better business
Most small businesses will not sell to tourists at all. They will sell to the hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, transport operators and event companies that do. Supplying that chain is steadier than seasonal direct-to-visitor trade, and it is where a laundry, a food supplier, a maintenance contractor or a transport business finds recurring work. The channels that market the destination these businesses depend on are run by South African Tourism.
Rankings move, structural advantages do not
City positions shift year to year with exchange rates, air routes, visa arrangements and events. Building a business around this year’s ranking is building on something temporary. Building it around the durable features, the airport, the conference infrastructure, the financial district, is building on something that will still be there.
Frequently asked questions
Which African city receives the most international visitors?
Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town, with Lagos, Casablanca, Cairo and Durban making up the rest of the leading group.
Where does visitor money actually go?
Shopping accounts for the largest share, followed by accommodation and dining out.
How is business travel different from leisure travel commercially?
It is weekday, shorter-stay, invoiced rather than paid on arrival, and buyers weight reliability and location far above novelty.
How does a small producer reach visitor spending?
Usually through stockists located where visitors already go, selling something they cannot buy at home, rather than by opening a shop.
Is it better to sell to visitors or to the businesses serving them?
For most small businesses, supplying hotels, restaurants, transport and event companies is steadier work than seasonal direct-to-visitor trade.
Further reading
Originally published in October 2017. Updated September 2026 to focus on where visitor spending actually reaches small businesses rather than on a single year’s city ranking.
