Overview

The DTS is aimed at collecting statistics on the travel behaviour and expenditure of South African residents travelling within South Africa. Such information is crucial in determining the contribution of tourism to the South African economy as well as helping with planning, marketing, policy formulation and regulation of tourism-related activities. The key findings reported tourism aspects such as main destination, purpose of visit, mode of transport, activities undertaken, booking pattern and expenditure.

Summary of the estimates
 
Destination

The province of preference for overnight trips was KwaZulu-Natal (21,3%).
Gauteng was the most visited province on day trips (23,9%).

The preferred destination on overnight trips for leisure or holiday purposes was Western Cape.

Reasons for taking trips

Visiting friends and family/relatives (VFR) was the main reason for taking day and overnight trips. Personal shopping on day trips (22,1%), and for overnight trips it was leisure/holidays (12,6%).

Eating out at restaurants and cafes was a very popular activity on both day and overnight trips.

Most travellers also engaged in shopping at malls/flea markets, about 421 000 travellers during day trips and 1,3 million on overnight trips.

Modes of transport

The two most frequently used modes of transport for domestic tourism were taxis and cars.

General

The age group most likely to travel was the 30