Tourism has the potential to make a significant contribution to the South African economy and it is targeted by government as one of the industries for future economic growth in the country. Tourism therefore is regarded as a potential sector where large-scale employment opportunities can be created. The National Development Plan 2030 also emphasises this point. This particular publication focuses on domestic tourism and includes information on day and overnight trips.

The findings of the DTS 2021 reflect a general pattern of increase in domestic tourism from 2020 to 2021. The number of day trips increased from 12,4 million in 2020 to 16,0 million in 2021 while overnight trips increased from 7,5 million in 2020 to 10,9 million in 2021. A significant increase in day trips from 2020 to 2021 was observed in the months, April to August.

Total expenditure increased from R22,6 billion in 2020 to R36,4 billion in 2021. This pattern of general increase in expenditure was observed in both day and overnight trips. Looking at the overall expenditure on both day trips and overnight trips, most money was spent on shopping followed by domestic transport for both years.

The main province to be visited in 2020 was Limpopo (24,5%), while Gauteng (18,8%) was visited the most in 2021 during day trips. Those who undertook overnight trips mostly preferred visiting Eastern Cape (18,2%) in 2020 and Limpopo (20,3%) in 2021. Of the total day trips undertaken, the main purpose in both years was for shopping (53,5% in 2020 and 44,3% in 2021) followed by visiting friends and relatives (15,5% in 2020 and 17,6% in 2021), whereas for those who took overnight trips, a visit to friends and relatives was the most common reason followed by leisure.