JOHANNESBURG - While most tourists head for South Africa's beaches and safari parks, many African visitors forego the natural wonders for shopping malls.

Women walk to take the bus after a long day of shopping in Johannesburg in this July 25, 2006 file photo. While most tourists head for South Africa's beaches and safari parks, many African visitors forego the natural wonders for shopping malls. [Reuters]

For years, cross-border shoppers from southern Africa have flocked to Johannesburg, South Africa's financial centre, to buy cheap goods that can be taken home and sold for a profit.

Now officials are seeing their own dollar signs after a study showed the influx of African "tourism traders" lifts the local economy by 20 billion rand ($2.8 billion) per year.

The spending bonanza by shoppers from neighbouring countries includes cash register sales and expenditures on overnight accommodation, meals and transportation.

In 2004, the latest year of available data, the hotspots for more than half a million African visitors were South Africa's array of shops, mainly wholesalers and a specific brand known as "cash and carry."

"These are typically low- to middle-income people who come because there is a wide variety of goods and good quality. And these stores may just be popping up in their own country," said urban consultant Neil Fraser of the newly-formed Joburg Cross-Border Shopping Association.

Most visitors come from Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Malawi where many people live on less than a dollar a day, said Tammy Lieberman, from a consulting firm hired by the city to study the issue.

Urban economic development officials are hoping to harness this powerful consumer base in a city often ignored by other visitors because of its reputation for high rates of violent crime and xenophobia.

"We cannot ignore this huge number of people. We need to keep attracting them," said Linda Vilakazi-Tselane, acting director of the municipal Economic Development Unit.

A welcome booth for cross-border traders travelling on shoestring budgets is due to open this year at Johannesburg's Park Station, a commuter hub that is running at full capacity.

Manager Nico Bredenhann is working with city planners to develop a new passenger boarding area and talks are underway for an international terminal to consolidate a smattering of informal bus stops located in dusty yards around the inner city.

"Cross-border traders have increased by about 50 per cent in the last five to seven years. It's just booming," said Bredenhann.

Private sector partners are considering requests to construct basic lodgings, with cheap nightly rates for a bed and shower, said Vilakazi-Tselane.

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