Domestic Tourism in South Africa: Profiling Road Trip Tourists

Domestic tourism has garnered much attention recently as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, being identified as a key solution to the post-pandemic recovery. The worth of domestic tourism prior to the pandemic, however, despite its tremendous economic value, has largely been overshadowed in scholarship and amongst many governments in lieu of the more glamorous international tourism. Notwithstanding, the current emphasis on domestic tourism, a gap still exists in the literature on specific sub-segments of the domestic tourist market and understanding their profiles and perceptions in order to address issues related to growing such markets and thus contributing to the overarching growth of domestic tourism and strengthening its role in the recovery of the tourism sector. This paper thus seeks to unpack the profile of 297 domestic road trip tourists surveyed from the Gauteng province of South Africa. The results outline the socio-demographic characteristics in terms of age, race, income and education levels, and their travel preferences and behaviour. Findings reveal facets linked to the importance of youth tourists, the need to address access to travel, availability of products and facilities geared to the needs of domestic tourists, the conditions of roads and the ease of travel, as well as issues related to financial access to tourism through pricing and affordability. The study provides a springboard to better understand the domestic road trip market by uncovering key socio-demographic components of this lesser studied market in the context of South Africa and provides recommendations for addressing the issues at hand.