Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Visa’s latest global travel intentions study places South African travellers fifth among the top five spenders, with an average spend of R28 880 on their last trip.
Four of the top five biggest spenders hailed from emerging markets.
The study surveyed 12 631 travellers from 25 countries across the globe.
While the research showed that travellers from Africa and the Middle East had trimmed their travel budgets, their appetite for travel remained healthy – 76% travelled in the past two years and 76% of these trips were for leisure.
Saudi Arabia leads the global pool of countries with the highest average spend of R66 660 per trip, while Australians spent about R41 180 and Chinese travellers were not far behind with R38 240.
Brazil ranked fourth amongst the big five spenders.
Hotels
Mandy Lamb, acting general manager for Visa sub-Saharan Africa says: “Despite the climate of economic uncertainty and the relatively weak global economy, the study hints at a change in both the financial landscape and consumer mind set suggesting either economic recovery or a growing appetite for travel globally.
"In Africa and the Middle East, however, travellers’ budgets decreased from an average of R32 670 to R25 010.”
The report went on to say that African and Middle East travellers preferred to make shorter trips to nearby places and they stayed longer than their counterparts from other parts of the world.
They spend on average 15 nights at a destination and 32% reported to have stayed at four star hotels or above.
In addition, 44% of travellers from this region spent time with family and friends, 14% explored culture and heritage sites and 17% travelled for a specific event.
The top destinations among those travellers included Egypt, Turkey, France and the United Arab Emirates.
Family members
With budget no longer a key concern behind travellers’ holiday destination but rather the desire to explore new horizons, the report went on to say, the uncharted territories of East Africa were increasingly drawing the attention of future global travellers.
The results of the study paint a picture of today’s global traveller:
* They are seasoned travellers, with 79% travelling in the past two years, taking one or two trips per year;
* A total of 80% plan their holidays in advance, taking an average of 10 weeks to organise the trip;
* Spending time with family and friends was cited as the most popular (38%) reason for a holiday. These trips were more likely to be organised independently (42%) and would last an average of 10 nights. They chose hotels of four stars and above (39%) with 69% choosing to take a trip with family members.
When it comes to choosing a destination, the report said, the US remained the most popular choice among travellers worldwide,
followed by the UK and France.
However, the popularity of Asian countries was on the rise - China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand also proving to be popular destinations.
People don’t like to travel alone, with 80% of respondents choosing to travel with family members or friends and first-timers were particularly likely to travel with their friends.
Air travel is by far the most common transportation used when making a trip and budget airlines were the second most popular class after economy.
Most journeys take less than four hours, although people from the US and Australia are the most likely to travel long-haul.
First-timers are also more likely to take short-haul trips.
(Foreign exchange quotes have been calculated from US dollars to the rand at the exchange rate of R10/US$1.)
Four of the top five biggest spenders hailed from emerging markets.
The study surveyed 12 631 travellers from 25 countries across the globe.
While the research showed that travellers from Africa and the Middle East had trimmed their travel budgets, their appetite for travel remained healthy – 76% travelled in the past two years and 76% of these trips were for leisure.
Saudi Arabia leads the global pool of countries with the highest average spend of R66 660 per trip, while Australians spent about R41 180 and Chinese travellers were not far behind with R38 240.
Brazil ranked fourth amongst the big five spenders.
Hotels
Mandy Lamb, acting general manager for Visa sub-Saharan Africa says: “Despite the climate of economic uncertainty and the relatively weak global economy, the study hints at a change in both the financial landscape and consumer mind set suggesting either economic recovery or a growing appetite for travel globally.
"In Africa and the Middle East, however, travellers’ budgets decreased from an average of R32 670 to R25 010.”
The report went on to say that African and Middle East travellers preferred to make shorter trips to nearby places and they stayed longer than their counterparts from other parts of the world.
They spend on average 15 nights at a destination and 32% reported to have stayed at four star hotels or above.
In addition, 44% of travellers from this region spent time with family and friends, 14% explored culture and heritage sites and 17% travelled for a specific event.
The top destinations among those travellers included Egypt, Turkey, France and the United Arab Emirates.
Family members
With budget no longer a key concern behind travellers’ holiday destination but rather the desire to explore new horizons, the report went on to say, the uncharted territories of East Africa were increasingly drawing the attention of future global travellers.
The results of the study paint a picture of today’s global traveller:
* They are seasoned travellers, with 79% travelling in the past two years, taking one or two trips per year;
* A total of 80% plan their holidays in advance, taking an average of 10 weeks to organise the trip;
* Spending time with family and friends was cited as the most popular (38%) reason for a holiday. These trips were more likely to be organised independently (42%) and would last an average of 10 nights. They chose hotels of four stars and above (39%) with 69% choosing to take a trip with family members.
When it comes to choosing a destination, the report said, the US remained the most popular choice among travellers worldwide,
followed by the UK and France.
However, the popularity of Asian countries was on the rise - China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand also proving to be popular destinations.
People don’t like to travel alone, with 80% of respondents choosing to travel with family members or friends and first-timers were particularly likely to travel with their friends.
Air travel is by far the most common transportation used when making a trip and budget airlines were the second most popular class after economy.
Most journeys take less than four hours, although people from the US and Australia are the most likely to travel long-haul.
First-timers are also more likely to take short-haul trips.
(Foreign exchange quotes have been calculated from US dollars to the rand at the exchange rate of R10/US$1.)
