Domestic travel is the bedrock of SA Tourism

Domestic tourism has been described as the bedrock of the tourism sector because of its contribution to the industry in 2023.

Tourism Minister Patricia De Lille gave an update on the tourism sector at the Tourism Economic Impact event in Sandton on Tuesday.

“Tourism’s contribution to the GDP naturally dipped during COVID-19 but recovered to 8.2% in 2023,” notes the department. 

De Lille said the department recorded 38 million domestic trips in 2023.

“We also recorded 38 million domestic trips which contributed R121 billion in terms of spend for 2023,” said De Lille.

Domestic air travel to recover

De Lille said air travel within the country has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels, however, the department remains hopeful.

In 2019, there were 167,000 flights taken within the country. So far there have been 143 000 flights in 2024, which gives the sector hope.

“Although seat capacity has been increasing over the past three years, it reached 18 million seats in 2024 but it is still below the 22 million seats in 2019,” said De Lille.

She said the department is working with relevant stakeholders including the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) to prioritise how to make domestic travel appealing to people within the country.

“Domestic tourism is the bedrock of our sector,” said De Lille.

The strategies that the department and its partners are working on are expected to make travelling more affordable and accessible.

“Several factors have contributed to the increase such as South Africa having a strong brand and our country offers a unique and compelling destination with a diverse range of attractions that set it apart from other destinations,” she said.

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Domestic travel brings more money than international arrivals

“The domestic market’s spending was higher than international arrivals spend,” said De Lille.

This can also be an indication of how much domestic travel contributes to the economy of the country.

In 2023, international arrivals contributed R95 billion in terms of spend. For the first quarter of 2024, international arrivals brought R25.7 billion. There were at least 8.5 million international arrivals in 2023, an increase of 48.9% from the 5.7 million arrivals which were seen in 2022.

“While the global tourism market is on the path to recovery, South Africa must intensify its efforts to align with global and regional growth trends,” said De Lille.

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International air access to SA

She said direct flights are important for boosting arrivals from various markets, and SA needs to establish more direct connections and recover those that were lost.

“Over the past year, we have seen the return of many new direct flights from the United States, Brazil, China, Australia and many others,” De Lille said.

She believes there are many gaps where the sector needs to secure direct flights to help increase arrival numbers. “A key gap is a direct flight between South Africa and India,” added De Lille.

Revenge travel

The tourism sector’s efforts have paid off, as arrivals and domestic travel numbers increased through revenge travel.  Revenge travel is a trend whereby people started travelling abroad after the Covid-19 travelling restrictions were lifted.

The minister acknowledged an improvement in the tourism sector’s performance, however, she said more can still be done to boost the industry.

“We want to increase the arrival numbers substantially because that translates to more economic growth and job creation from the tourism sector,” she added.

An increase in arrivals means that more people are becoming economically active.