Domestic Tourism Survey 2008

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7 December 2009

Statistics South Africa is launching a new household survey product, namely the Domestic Tourism Survey (DTS). The first survey was conducted in August 2008 amongst a representative sample of 31 909 South African households. The main objectives of the DTS survey are to:

1) Collect accurate statistics on the travel behaviour and expenditure of South African residents travelling within and outside the borders of South Africa.
2) Determine the contribution of tourism to the South African economy.
3) Provide information for planning, marketing, policy formulation and regulation of tourism-related activities.

The DTS covers seven areas specifically related to travel and expenditure patterns, namely: overview of trips taken by the household, domestic day trips by the respondent and/or other household members, domestic day trips by other household members only (without the respondent), domestic overnight trips by the respondent and/or other household members, domestic overnight trips by other household members only (without the respondent), foreign overnight trips by the respondent and/or other household members, and foreign overnight trips by other household members only (without the respondent).

The findings of the survey showed that people who took trips in the six months prior to the survey mostly did so to visit friends and family/relatives (VFR). This was the main reason stated why both domestic day and overnight trips were taken. For the most recent trips that were taken an estimated 7,469 million trips were taken for this reason, of which 2,252 million were day trips and 5,217 million were overnight trips.

Taxis were the most commonly used form of transport. It was used for 8,860 million day and overnight trips and cars in 7,532 million day and overnight trips. Taxis were mostly used as mode of transport to visit friends and family/relatives (27 6%) and to do shopping for personal use (28,3%).

Domestic day trips in the six months prior to the survey mostly had Gauteng as the main destination. KwaZulu-Natal, on the other hand, was the main destination for overnight trips.

Substantial amounts of money were spent by people when they take trips, e.g. the total estimated expenditure on day trips was R3,159 billion and on overnight trips R8,404 billion. Transport expenses accounted for roughly a third of this, i.e. R1,122 billion on day trips and R3,398 billion on overnight trips.

For media enquiries contact:

Ms Kefiloe Masiteng
Deputy Director-General
Population & Social Statistics
Statistics South Africa
Tel: 012 310 2109
Cell: 083 389 3673

For technical enquiries contact:

Dr. Isabelle Schmidt
Senior Professional, Development and Output
Social Statistics, Statistics South Africa
Tel: 012 337 6379
Cell: 082 884 4281

Issued by: Statistics South Africa
7 December 2009
Source: Statistics South Africa (http://www.statssa.gov.za)