South Africa’s domestic travel has shown a significant improvement in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2022 with an increase in overnight domestic spend as consumers took shorter but more frequent trips.
This was among the latest domestic and international tourism arrival statistics released by Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille at Africa’s Travel Indaba last week.
According to the data, the period from January to March 2023 (Q1, 2023) saw domestic overnight trips exceed pre-pandemic levels as well as 2022 levels by 41%. Overnight spend was also up 24,4% compared with Q1 2022.
The total number of nights spent away from home reached 27,9 million, a 32,9% increase over Q1 2022.
“The average length of stay per trip fell by 5,7%, highlighting the global trend - travellers now opt to take shorter and more frequent trips than before,” de Lille said.
“Domestic holiday trips from January to March 2023 were up 40,5% compared with 2022. These holiday trips represented a 27% share of total overnight trips.
“The expenditure from holiday trips in Q1 of 2023 was R9,5 billion compared with R7,9 billion in 2022,” de Lille said.
De Lille said domestic travellers travel mostly as VFRs, holidaymakers taking second place.
The top three provinces visited were Gauteng, Limpopo, and Eastern Cape.
