South Africa has priced itself out of reach of British tourists and is no longer a budget destination, according to a story in The Telegraph this morning.

The paper said the number of British travellers to SA had slumped after the World Cup, dropping by as much 20-30 percent, according to some tour operators.

The story that a number of local hotels jacked-up their rates to cash in on the Fifa soccer bonus has not helped even if rates have subsequently plummeted.

The question is, has SA ever been a proper budget destination like Thailand, Turkey or Vietnam? The answer is no. Direct airfares from the UK and Europe have always been expensive and the cost of living is high compared to other popular destinations.

Part of the problem us that SA is a long-haul destination. The other part is that we do not have high-enough tourism numbers to really bring down the cost of travel in SA. Rates may be easing post-World Cup – and the proliferation of no-frills airlines on domestic routes has really opened up internal travel – but the cost of living is soaring. Hotels in the major cities are expensive. Petrol – and car hire – are not cheap either, and our trains, while cheap, have been cut to the bone with only a couple of intercity services staggering around like wrestlers past their prime.

A viable tourism economy needs numbers – in people and money – and those numbers won’t come from backpackers.