South Africa’s rich are spending billions on one thing

South Africans are spending billions of rands on travelling, with the country’s biggest banks flagging a significant uptick over the past year. 

While tourist numbers are yet to return to their 2019 levels, South Africans are travelling locally and overseas more than ever. 

Standard Bank explained that what began as revenge travel after the pandemic-era lockdowns is becoming the new normal, with clients forking out billions of rands on travel. 

The bank’s clients spent tens of billions of rands on travel in 2024, it said, doubling what it recorded in 2021. 

Around 32% of that spend went to flight bookings, accounting for 1.5 million bookings, mostly by Private Banking clients. 

Travel and tour operators and accommodation accounted for 26% and 21%, respectively, to become the next two highest spend categories.  

Over the past five years, travel has seen a strong rebound, driven by pent-up demand after the pandemic. 

Standard Bank’s data shows that the past two years recorded the biggest surge yet as the wanderlust continues to soar. But with flight costs rising, some trends are shifting as individuals look to take their rands further. 

Marriott Bonvoy’s 2025 Ticket to Travel research shows that South Africans plan to take an average of 6.5 trips this year.

“South Africans are part of the global travel boom. Worldwide, travel surpassed pre-COVID levels in 2023, and we’re no different. But here at home, people are hunting for better deals because travel costs keep climbing,” Standard Bank’s Chiko Manokore said.

South Africa has seen a sharp increase in flight prices since, with airlines quoting as high as R5,000 for a single flight ticket from Johannesburg to Cape Town. 

This has pushed banks, including Standard Bank, to refresh their rewards benefits for travel to make it more affordable for clients and ensure they remain front-of-wallet by offering significant discounts. 

Its rapid growth as a share of spending has also made it increasingly attractive for banks as a way to capture increased value through fees and commissions. 

Going global

South Africans are also increasingly going global and using their domestic bank cards to spend overseas despite elevated fees. 

Capitec has flagged a surge in spending on its cards overseas, with its clients having spent over R1 billion using their cards abroad between March and August 2025. 

The bank said that over 1.9 million payments were made by its clients overseas during this period, representing an increase of 24% year-on-year. 

The United States and the United Kingdom continued to be the most popular destinations among clients, with total spending in these countries being R97 million and R68 million, respectively. 

Closer destinations have rapidly grown in popularity, with strong spending activity in Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Spending in Botswana eclipsed that of the United Kingdom over the period. 

“Most international card activity comes from clients who are at the point in their lives where they can enjoy either growth vacations or the high-value trips they have been saving up for,” Capitec’s Francois Viviers said. 

Capitec has taken the step to not charge currency conversion fees for international point-of-sale card payments, something it claims has saved clients R25 million. More recently, it began charging R0 on international card payments. 

Capitec’s data reveals that clients are increasingly confident in making direct payments at merchants, with international card usage almost evenly split between point-of-sale transactions and ATM withdrawals.

Despite the rapid growth in international travel, domestic holidays remain the most popular, with most travel spending being between the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban. 

Earlier this year, Discovery Bank outlined how significantly airline ticket prices have risen in rand terms, making overseas travel increasingly unaffordable for South Africans. 

Return flights to the United Kingdom rose by 10% year-on-year to an average price of R23,900, while flights to the US rose by 20% to R38,350. 

The price of return flights to Mauritius and the UAE rose to R15,250 and R21,050, respectively, compared to a year earlier.