Street traders play an important role in tourism in South Africa. They provide affordable goods to tourists while generating employment for others. Some even source products locally, such as beadwork, traditional masks, woven baskets and various other souvenirs, creating linkages with domestic producers.
Most of these traders are migrants from outside South Africa.
South Africa is regarded as the preferred destination for migration in Africa. Migrancy scholars Jonathan Crush and Vincent Williams point to tourism and entry statistics from Statistics South Africa, visa overstay and deportation data, and refugee figures from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to support the new movements of refugees since the fall of apartheid.
