KZN biggest local drawcard

Johannesburg - KwaZulu-Natal attracts the biggest number of local tourists, who spend more than a quarter of the country's total holiday expenditure in the province, according to Statistics SA's domestic tourism survey for 2008.

The study found that 22.7% of all overnight trips - which tend to average anything between two and four nights - took place in the coastal province. Following KZN in popularity was South Africa's economic hub Gauteng, where 15.8% of all overnight trips took place.

South Africans spent R2.2bn on holidays in KZN. This is almost double the next biggest amount spent in a single province - R1.37bn in the Western Cape - and 26% of the total spend on domestic holidays.

Mozambique gets most African traffic

KZN was also found to be a popular shopping destination; more than a fifth of the total holiday expenditure in the province was spent on retail. South Africans spent R204.5m on KZN shopping sprees, compared to an average R27.9m spent on shopping in the remaining eight provinces.

Yet South Africans' preferred destinations for leisure and holidays were the Western Cape and Mpumalanga.

The tourism survey also found the majority of South Africans travelling abroad are bound for destinations within the continent. Mozambique was the most notable of these, making up 21.3% of all international travel.

Other popular destinations in Africa were Swaziland (16.2% of all trips), Lesotho (13.4% of trips) and Botswana as well as Zimbabwe.

The United Kingdom was the most popular international destination outside Africa. Almost 5% of all outbound trips were headed to London, followed by the United States and Germany.

- Fin24.com