1.  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.

2.  Summary of the estimates
 
Destination

Day trips

Gauteng was the most frequently visited province on day trips with  23,9% in 2010 and 24,9% in 2011, whereas the Northern Cape was the least visited with 3,3% in 2010 and 2,4% in 2011.

Overnight trips

 KwaZulu-Natal had the highest proportion of overnight trips with  21,3% in 2010 and 20,3% in 2011, while the Northern Cape remained the least visited destination with 2,7% in 2010 and 2,3% in 2011.

Reasons for taking trips

Visiting friends and family/relatives (VFR) was the main reason for taking day and overnight trips.

Shopping for personal use on day trips (24,0%) in 2010 and (25,1%) in 2011, and for overnight trips it was leisure/holidays (22,2%)in 2010 and (20,8%) in 2011.

Eating out at restaurants and cafes was a very popular activity on both day and overnight trips in 2010 and 2011.

Modes of transport

The two most frequently used modes of transport for domestic tourism were cars and taxis; with the use of cars being more dominant