South Africans are exploring closer to home: searches increase by 22% for domestic travel.
With travel bans and concern over a third wave, it seems like South Africans are now exploring their own country.
According to Cheapflights.co.za, there has been a 22% jump in domestic travel searches. Laure Bornet, GM KAYAK EMEA, which manages Cheapflights, said they were glad to see such keen interest in local travel among South Africans.
“South Africa has a lot to offer in terms of destinations with attractive nature and landmarks. Moreover, our data show that prices for domestic flights this year are down by almost one-fourth when compared to pre-covid times of 2019. Now is the perfect time for exploring closer to home.”
Among the flight searches done since the start of lockdown, South Africans wanted to visit Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Gqeberha, George, East London, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit, Kimberley, and Mthatha.
Cheapflights also found that there has been keen interest in small towns.
The highest rank jump from 2019 to 2021 included Hoedspruit in Limpopo, which climbed 70 spots from 118 in 2019 to 48 in 2021, Upington in Northern Cape(up 49 spots) and Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal (up 46 spots).
Richards Bay and Margate in KwaZulu-Natal were also popular.
Cheapflights also found that people wanted shorter breaks, with domestic holidays averaging 4 days.
“People have been tightening their purse strings since the onset of the pandemic, but are still interested in entertainment and taking some time away. This is compared to the same time last year when people searched for visits to the same cities for an average of five days.
“These trends show that, although travel, in general, is not yet where it was before, there is still great interest in exploring whenever and wherever we can. The great interest in travelling locally shows hope for the domestic travel and tourism industry,” added Bornet.
