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Travel search engine Cheapflights.co.za released some really interesting data, revealing some insightful information as to where travellers were heading during one of the most unpredictable years of travel.
Analysing millions of search queries on the platform from travellers wanting to travel between January and December 2021, these key travel trends stood out:
The cost of travel out of South Africa increased by about 3.2%, but those travelling locally saved some bucks with the average domestic flight costing R2,060 on average – about 6.3% less than in pre-COVID-19 times. And with many countries instituting travel bans on Africa, South Africans travelling across the continent would have paid about 0.8% less for their regional flights, too.
Many travellers opted to stay closer to home with an approximate 273% increase in searches for Cape Town, specifically. Other cities that saw an increase in interest included Johannesburg (up about 249%), Durban (up about 208%), Port Elizabeth (up about 208%) and East London, which had a massive increase of about 322%.
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The trending destinations show the different cities that have received the highest increase in flight searches throughout the year. Lilongwe in Malawi landed in an impressive first place with an approximate nine-fold jump in searches compared to 2019.
While there are some predictable ones like Zimbabwe (up about eightfold), Harare (up about sevenfold), and the Maldives (up about six-fold), other destinations like Jamaica (up about sevenfold) and Mexico (up about fivefold) also made an appearance on the list this year.
Locally, the top three domestic locations that received the largest increase in searches included Hoedspruit in Limpopo (up 561%), Pietermaritzburg (up 473%) and Margate (up 404%).
Following the President’s announcement of a move to Level 2 lockdown earlier in September, Cheapflights.co.za saw a significant shift. 22 September was the busiest day of travel in 2021. A surge in week-on-week searches for flights also increased by about 134% for the Heritage Day weekend.
Despite the economic downturn, South African travellers opted to go all out for their trips with the majority of flights being searched selecting business class. Additionally, searches for first-class flights increased by about 12% when compared to 2019.
While inbound searches to South Africa remained below pre-pandemic levels by about 42%, international tourism was still present throughout the year, with the most searches coming out of the US, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Switzerland.
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