By Thapelo Tlailana, Social Investment Analyst, Tshikululu Social Investments Fund Management
Tourism Month 2026
South African tourism is often viewed through an international lens: a foreign visitor on a game drive in Kruger National Park, or a wine-tasting itinerary through Stellenbosch. However, the strongest engine of the tourism economy is not the overseas visitor. It is the South African who travels domestically, often sustaining businesses in townships, villages and rural economies that are largely invisible from the mainstream tourism economy.
Redefining the Tourist
International arrivals make headlines, and 2025 was a record year. South Africa welcomed 10.5 million international tourists, up 17.7% on 2024 and 2.6% above the 2019 pre-pandemic level. Measured by trip volume and total spend, however, domestic travel is larger by a wide margin. The Department of Tourism’s 2026/27 Budget Vote showed that South Africans undertook 44.7 million overnight trips in 2025, generating R111.6 billion in tourism revenue. Over half of those trips, some 24.1 million, were to visit friends and relatives, travel on which most people use no paid accommodation at all. Include Statistics South Africa’s Tourism Satellite Account and the gap grows: domestic tourism expenditure reached R665.3 billion in 2024, a figure that includes business travel and transport, against R113.9 billion from international visitors.
The macroeconomic footprint is immense. Statistics South Africa’s Tourism…
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