South Africa is world-famous for its scenery, yet for millions of locals, exploring their own backyard remains an unattainable luxury.
While initiatives like Sho’t Left attempt to boost local tourism, cheap hotel rates do little to ease the crushing burden of fuel, tolls, and long-distance transport.
As transport costs consume up to 20% of household budgets, domestic travel isn't failing due to a lack of interest - it's failing because South Africans are simply being priced out of the journey.
In celebration of Tourism Month and coinciding with Sho’t Left Travel Week, which ran from September 7 to 13, this timing is essential.
The main obstacle to travel is seldom a lack of interest, but rather whether individuals possess the financial means to translate that interest into actual trips.
South Africans are travelling, but affordability matters
Statistics South Africa data shows that domestic travel is not insignificant. Locals took an estimated 32.175 million day trips and 25.817 million overnight trips in 2023.
In 2024, those numbers increased to 33.476 million day trips and 26.222 million overnight trips.
Spending also increased. Mzansi spent an estimated R57.85 billion on domestic day and overnight trips in 2023. In 2024, this rose to R60.59 billion.
December remained the busiest period for both day and overnight travel, reflecting the importance of the festive season for domestic tourism.
But behind those numbers is another story.
When asked why they did not travel, financial reasons remained the biggest barrier. For day trips, 14.818 million people cited financial constraints in 2023, representing 42.3% of responses. In 2024, the figure was 14.253 million, or 41.8%.
For overnight trips, the pressure was even more pronounced. Financial reasons were cited by 19.637 million people in 2023, rising to 20.744 million in 2024.
The figures suggest that South Africans are travelling, but millions more are being priced out of doing so.
The holiday starts before you reach the destination
For many households, accommodation is only one part of the calculation.
Dr Olebogeng Ambrocius Baikgaki, a transport economist, analyst and senior lecturer and programme leader for Trade, Transport Economics and Logistics Management at North West University, said transport affordability is a significant barrier to domestic tourism.
“Transport affordability poses a significant challenge for households in SA,” he said.
According to Baikgaki, lower and middle-income households can spend roughly 15% to 20% of their budgets on basic commuting, leaving little disposable income for leisure.
That creates a problem for domestic tourism because reaching many destinations requires additional spending on fuel, long-distance transport or local transfers.
“The cost and limited availability of transport act as a major barrier to domestic tourism in SA,” he said.
The issue becomes particularly difficult when destinations are far from major cities or poorly connected to public transport.
A traveller may find an affordable guesthouse in a rural town, for example, only to discover that getting there without a private vehicle costs almost as much as the accommodation.
Beautiful places are not always easy to reach
SA's tourism map is filled with destinations outside major urban centres. Many beaches, nature reserves, heritage sites and small towns are not connected by a seamless public transport network.
For travellers with cars, this can be an inconvenience. For those without access to private vehicles, it can become a reason not to travel at all.
Baikgaki said SA needs a transport system that connects urban centres with long-distance services and rural tourism destinations.
“SA needs a comprehensive, safe and reliable public transportation system that seamlessly links urban centres, long-distance travel options and rural heritage sites,” he said.
The absence of these connections means some destinations remain easier to reach for visitors with their own vehicles or for international tourists travelling as part of organised packages.
That creates a strange situation. A destination can be geographically close to a South African city but financially distant from the people living there.
The history of who gets to holiday
There is also a historical dimension to SA's relationship with leisure.
Apartheid restricted where black South Africans could live, move and spend time. Access to beaches, resorts and other leisure spaces was shaped by segregation.
That history matters because a culture of domestic leisure travel does not develop overnight.
For many families, holiday travel has traditionally been about visiting friends and relatives rather than booking a hotel and exploring a new destination.
December and Easter trips often mean returning to one's home province or visiting family. The travel budget is therefore spent on getting home rather than discovering somewhere new.
That does not mean South Africans are uninterested in tourism. It means travel has often had a purpose beyond leisure.
Can Sho’t Left change the equation?
This is where initiatives such as Sho’t Left Travel Week have an important role.
Discounts can make travel more accessible, particularly for people who already want to travel but are discouraged by the price.
But cheaper accommodation alone cannot solve the problem if the traveller still has to pay a high transport cost to reach the destination.
Baikgaki believes that the government should consider greater support for taxi-based public transport because of its flexibility and ability to reach destinations that traditional public transport does not always serve.
He also argued that SA needs to reconsider how transport is planned so that tourism is part of the conversation rather than an afterthought.
A better connected system could reduce the cost and time required to reach destinations while creating opportunities for businesses in smaller towns and rural communities.
The real question is not whether South Africans want to travel
The statistics suggest that South Africans do travel. The bigger question is how many people could travel if the cost of getting there was lower.
Domestic tourism cannot depend entirely on discounts to make the country accessible to its own citizens.
If travelling from Durban to another province requires expensive transport, accommodation and food, a family may reasonably decide to stay home. If a rural attraction requires a private vehicle to reach it, people without cars are effectively excluded.
SA's tourism challenge, then, is not simply convincing South Africans that their country is worth exploring. Most already know that.
The challenge is making the journey possible.
Perhaps the real question is not why fewer South Africans explore their home country, but rather how South Africa would transform if domestic travel were truly affordable for everyone.
lutho.pasiya@nationalmg.co.za