domestic tourism – most people travel to Gauteng to visit friends and family

number of most recent person trips to Gauteng in the six months
prior to the survey by main purpose of visit

Stats SA (2008) 'Domestic Tourism Survey'

South Africa’s first domestic tourism survey, conducted by StatsSA in August 2008, measured day and overnight trips taken in the period February to July 2008, and provides an indication of the domestic flow of people within the country.

Gauteng was the main destination for day trips in the country (24.4%) followed by Kwazulu-Natal with 17.7%. Day trips to and from Gauteng indicate a strong flow of people between Gauteng and the North West province, followed by Gauteng-Mpumulanga and Gauteng-Limpopo. The main purpose of day visits to and within Gauteng is to visit friends and family (34%), followed by personal shopping (16%) and leisure (14%).

For overnight trips the pattern is reversed, with Kwazulu-Natal the main destination (22.7%), followed by Gauteng with 15.8%. The highest number of people travelling and staying overnight occurs between Limpopo and Gauteng, followed by Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng. The main purpose of overnight visits to and within Gauteng is primarily to visit friends and family (53%), followed by attending funerals (11%) and for leisure purposes (10%).

number of most recent person trips to Gauteng in the six months
prior to the survey by main purpose of visit

Cross-border shoppers from the SADC region come to Gauteng for short periods of time, with shopping as their main purpose of travel.

Their activities range from the purchase of low-end consumer goods for use by friends and family in their home countries, to entrepreneurial buying of crafted and manufactured goods for resale in their home countries and South Africa.

Cross-border shopping is a significant social and economic phenomenon – visitors from African countries contributed the largest proportion of total foreign direct spend in 2005, contributing R12.1-billion, with each shopper spending R52 000 per year.