We take a look at domestic travel trends and behaviour in South Africa. For more on the survey, visit http://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=1854&PPN=P0352.1&SCH=6990

1. Domestic Tourism Survey,
2015
Dr Pali Lehohla
Statistician-General
#StatsSA

2. About the survey
Collects information to understand the travel behaviour of people in
the country.
Determine the contribution of tourism to the country’s
economy.
Focusses on domestic tourism and includes information on day
and overnight trips.
1
2
3
4
5
Looks at all private households and residents in workers’ hostels in
all 9 provinces of SA, sampling approximately 32000 households
in face to face interviews
Stats SA uses administrative data from Department of Home Affairs
(people entering the country and travelling outside) to collect and analyse
data for international tourism

3. DTS Methodology

4. Sample
Scope
Measure
18+
15 594 persons
(About 1 300 monthly)
Approximately
32 000 households
All trips Most recent trips
Comparison of Stats SA and SA Tourism

5. Recall period
Content
Reporting
Annual
From 2017/18
onwards
Final report
in 2016/17
Overnight, day trips
and LSM
Overnight and
day trips
Monthly
Comparison of Stats SA and SA Tourism

6. Day trips taken inside South Africa
Demographic information
Main destinations
Reason for travelling
Mode of transport used
Overnight trips taken inside
South Africa
Living Standard Measure
Information Gathered

7. Tourism direct
contribution to the GDP
% of GDP
2005-2015
Source: Tourism Satellite Account for South Africa, 2015
3,0% of the
GDP in 2015
(R118 928 million)
How Large is Tourism?

8. How much did we spend on leisure related travel
2011-2015?
Source: IES 2010/2011 and LCS 2014/15
8,7
5,8
1,6 0,1
7,3 7,6
2,9
0,2
0,0
1,0
2,0
3,0
4,0
5,0
6,0
7,0
8,0
9,0
10,0
Transport Accommodation Tour packages Cultural services
Rbillion
IES2010/11 LCS2014/15
There was an increase in expenditure
towards Accommodation and Holiday
Tour Packages from 2011 to 2015
Expenditure towards Transport
decreased to R7,3bn from R8,7bn
in 2011

9. Findings of the DTS 2015

10. Day
54,4 48m
44,3m
Overnight
50,8 47,3m
45,4m
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2013 2014 2015
Day Overnight
Total number of trips (million), 2013 – 2015
A general pattern of decline in domestic
tourism for both day and overnight trips
is observed from 2013 to 2015

11. R 104b
R 110b
R 87b
R0
R20
R40
R60
R80
R100
R120
2013 2014 2015
Total Expenditure (in Billion rands)
Total expenditure (in Billion rand), 2013 - 2015
Total expenditure on domestic day and overnight trips shows a decline of
R22 billion between 2014 and 2015

12. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2013 10,2 8,8 9,2 8,5 8,6 7,9 8,0 7,7 7,2 7,3 5,7 10,7
2014 8,8 9,1 9,2 8,7 7,3 7,0 7,7 8,2 8,0 8,2 6,7 11,2
2015 9,1 9,1 8,7 8,3 8,6 8,5 6,9 7,9 7,1 7,0 6,9 11,8
0,0
2,0
4,0
6,0
8,0
10,0
12,0
14,0
16,0
18,0
20,0
Percentage
Total number of day trips taken by month (per cent),
2013 – 2015
The number of day trips decreased from 54 million in 2013 to 48 million in 2014
and 44 million in 2015.
During November 2013 and 2015, fewer day
trips were taken (3,1 million) when compared
to November 2014 (3,2 million).

13. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
2013 9,9 5,4 9,0 8,4 7,1 8,2 7,8 6,6 8,4 6,9 6,0 16,4
2014 11,0 7,0 7,9 10,0 6,2 7,3 8,3 6,2 7,4 7,2 6,3 15,2
2015 10,0 6,6 6,9 9,2 6,9 9,0 7,6 7,4 8,0 6,7 6,1 15,7
0,0
2,0
4,0
6,0
8,0
10,0
12,0
14,0
16,0
18,0
Percentage
Total number of overnight trips taken by month (per cent),
2013 – 2015
Overnight trips also decreased from approximately 51 million in 2013 to
47 million in 2014 and 45 million in 2015.
A slight increase in overnight
trips during April 2015 can be
attributed to the Easter holidays

14. Most recent day and overnight trips, 2013 – 2015
Day trip
A trip outside of the usual environment,
where one leaves and returns within the
same day (i.e. do not stay overnight).
Overnight trip
A trip outside of one’s usual
environment where one night or more is
spent away from the usual environment.
Most recent trips has seen a decline in both day and overnight trips between 2014 and 2015
million
20,0 million
18,1 million 18,5 million
29,7 million
27,7 million 27,6 million
0,0
5,0
10,0
15,0
20,0
25,0
30,0
35,0
2013 2014 2015
Day Overnight

15. MP
9,4%
KZN
10,3%
EC
9,5%
FS
3,9%
NW
8,0%
NC
3,4%
WC
12,4%
GP
23,1%
Gauteng and
Limpopo were the
most popular
destinations for day
travellers
LP
17,1%
Percentage of most recent day trips by province of
destination, 2015

16. MP
9,5%
EC
14,8%
FS
4,6%
NW
7,2%
NC
2,5%
WC
10,3%
GP
11,3%
LP
15,6%
KZN
14,3%
The main destination for
overnight travel was
Limpopo followed by
Eastern Cape and
KwaZulu-Natal
Percentage of most recent overnight trip by province of
destination, 2015

17. Main purpose of most recent day trips, 2013 – 2015
Shopping VFR Leisure Business Religion Sporting Other Unspecified
2013 24,9 25,6 16,9 4,8 4,2 1,9 21,0 0,7
2014 28,8 26,5 13,5 4,3 5,4 1,7 18,9 0,6
2015 27,4 23,8 16,7 4,3 5,4 2,0 20,1 0,4
0,0
10,0
20,0
30,0
40,0
50,0
60,0
70,0
80,0
90,0
100,0
Percentage
2013 2014 2015
The main reason reported for undertaking day trips was:
Shopping
Visiting friends and
relatives
Leisure

18. Main purpose of most recent overnight trips,
2013 – 2015
VFR Leisure Religion Business Sporting Shopping Other Unspecified
2013 48,8 18,9 7,7 2,4 0,7 0,7 20,3 0,5
2014 49,5 18,2 7,4 2,4 1,0 0,7 19,4 0,9
2015 48,7 18,5 6,3 2,2 0,8 0,6 0,9 0,6
0,0
10,0
20,0
30,0
40,0
50,0
60,0
70,0
80,0
90,0
100,0
2013 2014 2015
The main reason reported for undertaking overnight trips was:
Visiting friends and
relatives
Leisure
Religion
Percentage

19. Mode of Transport

20. Mode of transport by most recent day and overnight trips,
2015
Day Trips Overnight Trips
60,0% 49,9%
30,3% 35,8%
6,0% 8,5%
0,4% 2,7%
Other Other 2,4%2,5%
Similar patterns were
observed for day and
overnight trips. Cars
were the main mode of
transport, followed by
taxis and then busses.

21. 9%
9% 10%
2015 2014 2013
50% 51% 49%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
2015 2014 2013
36% 34% 36%
2015 2014 2013
3% 3% 3%
2015 2014 2013
AIRPLANEBUSCAR TAXI
Mode of transport by most recent overnight trip, 2013 - 2015
Cars remain the main mode of transport used for overnight trips. Taxis were the second
most used mode of transport for overnight trips.

22. Accommodation

23. Stayed with friends and relatives
Self Catering
Other
Hotel
Caravan Park
Holiday Home
Guest House
Lodge
Bed and Breakfast
Hostel/Back Packers
Accommodation used on most recent overnight trip, 2015
Most tourists
made use of
unpaid
accommodation
when
undertaking an
overnight trip by
staying with
friends or
relatives
74%
STAYING WITH FRIENDS
OR RELATIVES

24. Profile of day travellers and tourists in terms of Age, education, marital
status and LSM
Day travelers who had
never been married
were more likely to travel
than others.
Individuals aged 25 - 44
made up 40,8% of day
travellers & travelled the
most compared to other
age groups
40,8% 45,3%
28,3%
Those who completed
secondary school
undertook most day trips.
31,1%
Main reason for undertaking
day (31,1%) and overnight
(40,4%) trips for LSM
group 8-10, was leisure.

25. Profile of day travellers and tourists in terms of Age, education, marital
status and LSM
LSM group 1-4 are
more likely to take day
trips for shopping.
After LSM group 8-10, the
next highest spending
group was LSM 5-7 who
spent money mostly on
shopping and domestic
transport.
R14bn 49,5%
1 Week
Most tourists spent up to
one week at their
destinations on an overnight
trip, staying mainly with
friends and relatives.
GP, LP, WC
Between 2013-2015, GP, LP
and WC were most popular
destinations for day
travellers, while overnight
travellers mostly preferred LP,
EC and KZN.

26. Thank you