South Africans’ favourite travel destinations

Domestic travel during the festive season was dominated by the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, with flights between these cities increasing compared to other times. 

Globally, South Africans continued to prefer flights to the United Kingdom, Mauritius, Australia, the US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

This was revealed in Discovery Bank’s Festive SpendTrend report, which detailed the spending behaviour of its clients and Vitality rewards members over December and January. 

The bank collects this data as part of its aim to understand where and how South Africans spend their money. This enables the bank to build better products and personalise its rewards. 

In December, South Africans tend to spend more money much more quickly, with the average time to deplete a salary being less than 13 days. 

South Africans spend, on average, 15% more in December compared to the other months of the year, with expenditure on outdoor activities, movies, and children’s toys skyrocketing. 

However, one of the constants throughout the year is spending on travel, with South Africans spending heavily on flights in December as prices rise with the elevated demand. 

In Discovery Bank’s latest full-year SpendTrend report, the bank revealed that apart from groceries and fuel, South Africans spend most of their money on travelling. 

Over the festive season, Discovery Bank clients also spend heavily on travel and fully use the bank’s Vitality rewards programme. 

Over the festive period between 8 December and 14 January, there were 79,000 Vitality travellers who booked 158,000 seats. 

This means that Vitality travellers filled the equivalent of 900 planes and flew a distance that’s equal to 420 trips to the moon and back.

Data collected by Discovery Bank through its Vitality Travel platform showed that, unsurprisingly, domestic travel centres along South Africa’s Golden Triangle of Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town. 

Due to the rise in demand for flights to and from these cities, prices rose significantly over December compared to other months. 

Discovery Bank’s data also showed that flight prices rose compared to a year earlier, with the average flight between Johannesburg and Cape Town rising by 16% to R2,400. 

The average flight price between Johannesburg and Durban rose 14% to R1,400, while flights between Cape Town and Durban rose 2% to R2,550. 

The bank flagged in its full-year SpendTrend report last year that there is also increased travel to Garden Routw towns such as East London, George, and Gqeberha. 

Discovery Bank clients’ favourite international destinations were the United Kingdom, Mauritius, the UAE, Australia, and the United States. 

These flight prices also showed significant growth, except for flights to and from Australia, which remain relatively much more expensive in rand terms. 

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. 

In the full SpendTrend report, Discvoery Bank said Europe, including the United Kingdom, remains the most popular continent for South Africans to travel to, with 58% of flights heading to the continent. 

It is followed by Africa, with 15% of flights outside South Africa landing on the continent. Mauritius is the most popular destination in Africa, followed by Namibia and Zimbabwe. 

Mauritius saw a big increase in demand from South Africans going overseas, which Discovery Bank attributed to the rising supply of accommodation and flights.