South African Tourism has released a report on domestic tourism and the key trends it sees in domestic tourism behaviour.
The tourism body says while domestic tourism is showing a steady recovery, spending in a number of tourism expenditure categories is yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels.
Prevailing economic factors are causing shrinkage in share of wallet on non-essential expenditure such as travel.
Despite this, SA Tourism believes there is a strong need in the market for travel as a means of dealing with the effects of ever-changing lockdown restrictions and COVID-19 fatigue and what it refers to as “the other looming pandemic – compromised mental health”.
People are opting to travel for emotional reconnection, it says. Travelling for VFR purposes (visiting friends and relatives) and reconnecting with loved ones will become important for consumers. VFR travel already accounts for 70% of domestic trips in South Africa. And the tourism body adds that trends show there will be a renewed interest in nature and outdoor activities where South Africans can socialise and enjoy nature by spending time in the outdoors with family.
However, there are forces creating a dampening effect on domestic tourism.
From April 2022, there has been a 25% jump in fuel prices. Transport is the biggest expenditure item for domestic travellers and so it’s expected that petrol prices will affect the distance and duration of local trips. High petrol prices negatively impact flights, taxi fares and also ripple down into a rise in the cost of general goods.
The increase in unemployment will lead to a decrease in domestic travel, salaries will have to go further and non-essential expenditure will have to be curtailed. According to StatsSA, the unemployment rate in South Africa significantly increased in 2021 and, just from Q1 and Q2 2021, 584 000 jobs were lost.
SA Tourism says the industry should focus on meeting the needs of the domestic market by packaging outdoor, fresh air, family-orientated experiences for a more price-conscious consumer. “Trade needs to be aware of the constraints and adjust package prices and offering accordingly,” says the report.
