The number of trips taken by South Africans travelling domestically is on the decline. This was just one of the findings from the Domestic Tourism Survey 2015, which was released by Stats SA this week. The survey collects information to understand the travel behaviour of people in South Africa to determine the contribution of tourism to the economy.

Data is collected on day trips (a trip outside of the usual environment[1] where one leaves and returns within the same day) and overnight trips (a trip outside of the usual environment, where one night or more is spent away from the usual environment).

The total number of day trips taken decreased from 54,4 million in 2013 to 48 million in 2014 and decreased further to 44,3 million in 2015. Overnight trips also declined from 50,8 million in 2013 to 47,3 million in 2014 and 45,4 million in 2015.

Actual total expenditure on domestic overnight trips increased from R68,5 billion in 2013 to R71 billion in 2014. A different pattern was seen in 2015 with a decrease in expenditure to R61,9 billion. Expenditure on day trips also increased from an estimated R35 billion in 2013 to R38,6 billion in 2014 and decreased to R24,9 billion in 2015.

The findings show that 60% of day trips were undertaken using cars, with 30% using taxis. For overnight trips, just less than half (49%) were undertaken using cars, with almost 36% using taxis. Almost half of these overnight trips were for the purpose of visiting friends and relatives, and those undertaking them did not make use of paid accommodation for these trips.

These are just some of the findings from the release. For more information please download the full release here.