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Blog: 18 March 2017 (South Africa's Domestic Tourism Survey Results)
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In today's blog we take a look at South Africa's Domestic Tourism Survey (DTS) for 2015. This survey is run and published by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) and looks to provide detailed insights into domestic tourism behaviour of South African residents.
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Background on the DTS as published by Stats SA
The following background information regarding the DTS is published by Statistics South Africa.
"The DTS is a large-scale household survey aimed at collecting accurate statistics on the travel behaviour and expenditure of South African residents travelling within the borders of the country. Such information is crucial in determining the contribution of tourism to the South African economy as well as helping with planning, marketing, policy formulation, and regulation of tourism-related activities.
The key objective of the DTS is to understand the domestic travel behaviour of an average South African resident. Hence, this would include collecting information on:
"The DTS is a large-scale household survey aimed at collecting accurate statistics on the travel behaviour and expenditure of South African residents travelling within the borders of the country. Such information is crucial in determining the contribution of tourism to the South African economy as well as helping with planning, marketing, policy formulation, and regulation of tourism-related activities.
The key objective of the DTS is to understand the domestic travel behaviour of an average South African resident. Hence, this would include collecting information on:
- Domestic day and overnight trips undertaken;
- Trips by respondents and trips by other household members without the respondent accompanying them;
- Profile of the most recent day/overnight domestic trips both by the respondent and other household members (destination, trip length, purpose of visit, accommodation, transport, activities, trip expenditure, etc.);
- and Socio-demographics. "
Number of day trips per month
The bar chart below shows the number of day trips per month per year from 2013 to 2015. What is clear from the bar chart is the fact that there is a significant spike in the number of trips undertaken during the months of December and January (when the majority of South Africans go on holiday (to coincide with end of year school holidays and Christmas and New Years holidays).
The other noticeable thing in the graphic above is the fact that the number of day trips per month has been declining significantly from 2013 to 2015. It is clear that a lot less domestic tourism trips takes place in South Africa. In 2013 the total number of day trips undertaken amounted to 54.3million, in 2014 it was roughly 48million and in 2015 it was 44.2million.
Number of overnight trips per month
While the the first graphic above showed day trips, which one would assume is mostly business related travel, the next graphic shows the number of trips undertaken in which residents stayed overnight.
Again as was the case with day ttips, the number of overnight trips undertaken has been on the decline since 2013. A clear sign that South African residents are under financial pressure and are not going away as much as they have done in the past. And again a large spike in number of overnight trips are observed in December when most families go on holiday to take advantage of the schools closing and the large number of public holidays at the end of December.
So what do day trippers and overnight trippers spend their money on while on these trips? The doughnut chart below takes a look at the main spending categories for those who went on day trips.
Since it's day trips no money was spent on accommodation. The majority of money was spent on shopping and domestic transport (taxi's, rental cars etc) with each of these groups bringing in roughly a third of money spent in. Food and Beverages comes in with around 23% of money spent on it and then recreational and cultural activities only bringing in 2.1% of overall day trip spending.
While shopping is the biggest contributor to the expenditure of day trips with over R8billion spent, it is down by R11billion when compared to 2013, when day trip spending on shopping was over R19billion. This represents a massive decline in the amount of money spent on day trips on shopping. Definitely as sign of consumers tightening their belts.
While shopping is the biggest contributor to the expenditure of day trips with over R8billion spent, it is down by R11billion when compared to 2013, when day trip spending on shopping was over R19billion. This represents a massive decline in the amount of money spent on day trips on shopping. Definitely as sign of consumers tightening their belts.
So what do overnight trippers spend their money on? Well accommodation makes up a significant chunk of their overall spending, with spending on accommodation topping R7billion. Transport and shopping again bringing in almost a third each in expenditure on overnight trips.
It seems food and beverages spending declines as relative percentage to make space for spending on accommodation. On overall spending level by domestic tourists, total spending amounted to R86.7billion in 2015 (down from R103.8billion in 2013 and R109.7billion in 2014). This is a rather substantial drop in the overall spending levels by domestic tourists.
Of the R86.7billion spent in 2015 by domestic tourists, 28.66% is spent by day trippers and the other 71.34% by overnight trips.
Of the R86.7billion spent in 2015 by domestic tourists, 28.66% is spent by day trippers and the other 71.34% by overnight trips.
Now that we know the number of day trips and overnight trips undertaken, the next question is, where are domestic travellers going? We will take a look at where both day trippers and overnight trippers are going. As we mentioned earlier day trips in all likelihood represents mostly business travel, while overnight trips represents leisure and holiday trips.
The animated map below allows users the option of selecting between day trips and overnight trips. And the darker the colour the higher the percentage of day/overnight trips to that specific province
The animated map below allows users the option of selecting between day trips and overnight trips. And the darker the colour the higher the percentage of day/overnight trips to that specific province
The map confirms our suspicion that day trips are mostly undertaken for business purposes. As 23.1% of day trips undertaken had Gauteng as the destination. And Gauteng being the biggest province in SA in terms of economic size (with it roughly contributing 34% to SA's economy), it is not surprising that a lot of business trips are undertaken in Gauteng. A surprise to some might be the high percentage of day trips undertaken to Limpopo (17.1%), with it being second only to Gauteng. Western Cape came in in 3rd place with 12.4% of business trips undertaken having the Western Cape as the destination. One should however not be surprised by Limpopo daytrips. As a large number of people born in Limpopo work and reside in Gauteng. So one can assume loads of family visits taking place. For more details on Migration into Gauteng see here.
So what about overnight trips? Well when the map changes to overnight trips, the first thing one notices is the fact that the coastal areas are a lot darker in colour and Gauteng's contribution to overnight trips is a lot lower than what it was for day trips. This is clear sign that overnight trips are largely holiday makers heading towards the coastal provinces.
So what about overnight trips? Well when the map changes to overnight trips, the first thing one notices is the fact that the coastal areas are a lot darker in colour and Gauteng's contribution to overnight trips is a lot lower than what it was for day trips. This is clear sign that overnight trips are largely holiday makers heading towards the coastal provinces.
Again Limpopo surprises with a large percentage of people heading to Limpopo on overnight trips. Two possible explanations:
1. A large number of people born in Limpopp work in Gauteng, and they head back home to Limpopo for the holidays.
2. Massive number of people head towards Moria, located in Limpopo as part of ZCC festivities
1. A large number of people born in Limpopp work in Gauteng, and they head back home to Limpopo for the holidays.
2. Massive number of people head towards Moria, located in Limpopo as part of ZCC festivities
Now that we know how many people undertook day and overnight trips, what they spent their money on and where they were heading during these trips, the next question we will look to answer is how they got around? The dougnut chart below will take a look at the various modes of transport used by day trips.
60.06% of day trip tourists used Cars to get around, with 30.33% of them using Taxi's, and 6.01% using the bus. With other modes of transport, unspecified and air transport making up the rest (3.6%). Clearly cars (and one would assume a large number of them being fleet cars) are the preferred way to get around for those conducting day trips. The pie chart below takes a look at the modes of transport used by those on overnight trips.
As was the case with day trips, cars seems to be the most used mode of transport for overnight trippers. Although the percentage of those using cars for overnight trips is a lot lower than it is for day trips. Almost 36% of those on overnight trips use Taxis to get around and 8.5% of those on overnight trips use the bus. With Air, unspecified and other (bicylces and motor cycles etc) making up 5.9%
Domestic travel per population group
Now that we know how many people are taking day and overnight trips, what they spending their money on, where they going and how they get around. The next question is who are these people? And does travel patterns differ among various race groups in South Africa. The graphic below will look at the number of day trips taken per person in each race group. I.e. if there are 4million whites in South Africa and they took 8million day trips the average number of trips per person for whites =2.
While Balck Africans makes up the majority of SA's population the number of day trips per Black African in 2015 was 0.654, with Coloureds coming in at 0.81. Indian/Asians taking 1.08 trips per person in that race group, and Whites showing the highest number of day trips per person undertaken in 2015, with 2.26 day trips per person in that specific race group. This speaks again to significant inequalities in terms of income and expenses as whites have a lot more more, and access to better jobs than the rest of the race groups in South Africa. The graphic below does the same as the one above, but does so for overnight trips
Interesting to note that on overnight trips, Black Africans take more trips per person in that race group than Coloured and Indian/Asians. Whites still take more than double the number of overnight trips per person in that race group than any of the other race groups. Again drawing attention to inequality in income and spending. One can only assume more trips are taken by Whites as they have more money available to go on overnight trips.
We hope those setting economic policy and those pinning hopes on continued employment and growth in the tourism sector takes a long hard look at this, as the decline in number of trips and the coinciding drop in spending on such trips will have a negative affect on the sector as a whole, and it might not be the silver bullet many are hoping to curb SA's job losses and to create employment opportunities. And for those wondering about South Africa's employment situation, see this article for the employment per province.
We hope those setting economic policy and those pinning hopes on continued employment and growth in the tourism sector takes a long hard look at this, as the decline in number of trips and the coinciding drop in spending on such trips will have a negative affect on the sector as a whole, and it might not be the silver bullet many are hoping to curb SA's job losses and to create employment opportunities. And for those wondering about South Africa's employment situation, see this article for the employment per province.