The City of Gold, measured: Africa’s busiest airport at 20.9 million passengers, a premium railway betting R120 billion on expansion while the commuter network climbs back from collapse, the continent’s biggest inland port 570 km from the sea — and a record 10.48-million arrival year that Britain now leads and Russia grows fastest. Eight pages on Africa’s business capital.
Because the record year arrived through this airport. South Africa posted 10.48 million international arrivals in 2025, +17.6% and finally above 2019 — and two of three long-haul visitors touch O.R. Tambo first. The UK overtook the US as the top overseas market (+15.4%), Europe grew 12.6%, and Russian arrivals were the fastest-growing of all. December was ACSA’s best month since the pandemic.
Because the city passed the hardest audit in events. November 2025 brought the G20 Summit — the first on African soil — and Sandton ran it without a headline incident, banking 51 MICE bids worth R894.5 million in the aftermath. The Park Hyatt opened in Rosebank, Rea Vaya’s BRT finally reached Sandton, and the Electronic Travel Authorization piloted at the summit now rolls out to India and China.
And because the infrastructure debate is real money: Gautrain’s R120-billion expansion toward Randburg, Roodepoort and Lanseria; PRASA’s commuter corridors reopening at 35 of 40 with ridership doubling; Transnet’s Durban–Johannesburg corridor opening to private freight operators. This series tracks Africa’s gateway economy, page by page, as the data publishes.
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