The impact of funerals on South African travel habits

The saddest trend in the growth of people travelling across South Africa is the number of overnight trips taken to attend funerals.

According to Statistics South Africa’s recently released Domestic Tourism Survey 2024, trips for funerals accounted for a ‘notable’ 11.2% of all 26.2 million overnight trips across the country.

The agency said this compared with a 12.3% stake in numbers last year.

Although the percentage of those attending funerals dropped year on year, there were still more South Africans – at 1.2 million – travelling for burials this year than there were in 2023.

Those attending funerals mostly visited Limpopo, followed by Gauteng, the figures showed.

The overall number of overnight trips grew 1.5% from last year’s 25.8 million. There are 63.1 million people in South Africa.

Some 33.5 million day trips also took place during the year, with total spending on domestic travel coming in at R60.4 billion, mostly driven by overnight travel, said the agency.

For overnight trips, KwaZulu-Natal was the leading destination in 2024, followed by Limpopo and the Western Cape.

Day trips were most popular in Gauteng, the Western Cape and Limpopo.

While personal shopping was the most cited reason for day trips, at 30.4%, overnight travel was most frequently for visiting friends and relatives and leisure purposes.

Cars and taxis were the primary modes of transport for most trips, although South Africans are still feeling the pinch with many opting to avoid travelling. – IOL News

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