Domestic tourism numbers down as broke South Africans avoid travel

Cash-strapped South Africans are taking fewer local trips‚ and those who do chose to travel‚ are spending less money while doing so.

The results of the Statistics South Africa domestic travel survey for 2016 showed that while total expenditure on domestic travel held stable at R87-billion in 2015 and 2016‚ there has been a considerable decline since 2014‚ when South Africans spent R110-billion on local travel.

The data looks at two sorts of domestic travel - day trips in which a distance of 40km or more is travelled‚ and overnight trips involving one or more nights spent away from home.

The number of day trips South Africans undertook in 2016 saw a marked decline-decreasing from 44.3 million in 2015‚ to 39.4 million in 2016.

Overnight trips decreased from 45.4 million in 2015 to 43 million in 2016. The single biggest reason given for not undertaking overnight trips in 2016 was "financial reasons".

The majority of day trips taken in 2016 were for shopping purposes and visiting family and friends.

Statistician-general Pali Lehohla also illustrated the other top reasons for taking day trips - leisure and attending funerals saying: "On Saturdays in South Africa‚ you see these streams of cars heading to funerals‚ and then also lots and lots of motorbikes."

On average‚ South Africans spent about R1‚367 on their most recent day trip.

Those undertaking overnight trips reported that the number one reason for taking them was to visit family and friends. Leisure and funerals were also popular reasons for travelling. The main destinations for overnight travel were Limpopo‚ Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

While travelling‚ 73 percent stayed with family or friends‚ while 4.45 of travellers stayed in self catering accommodation‚ and 4.1% stayed in hotels.

On average‚ South Africans spent about R1‚322 on overnight trips.

The average overnight trip was about one week long‚ and more than half of those who travelled reached their destination by taxi.

Lehohla said that in addition to tough economic conditions‚ the number of unemployed people was growing in South Africa and millions were living below the poverty line.

"Under those conditions‚ travel will suffer‚" he said.