{"id":847171,"date":"2026-01-05T15:32:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=847171"},"modified":"2026-01-05T15:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:32:08","slug":"south-africans-are-flocking-to-these-3-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/847171\/south-africans-are-flocking-to-these-3-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans are flocking to these 3 countries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African holidaymakers are heading to Mauritius, Kenya, and Tanzania, as the post-pandemic travel boom continues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using data from the world’s leading travel platforms, Standard Bank said that domestic and international leisure travel remains robust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although cross-border business travel has decreased, South Africa’s largest bank by assets under management reported that leisure bookings have more than compensated for the corporate decline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) noted that international tourist arrivals reached 97% of pre-pandemic levels by late 2024, with South African travellers part of this global resurgence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where South Africans go on holiday is heavily influenced by the time of the year, with travellers going to different parts of Africa during the summer and winter periods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard Bank says that between December and February, beach destinations and city breaks reign supreme as families capitalise on school holidays and the festive season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local coastal destinations, such as Cape Town and Durban, experience the highest demand. South Africans also make their way to Mauritius<\/strong> during this period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between March and April, a secondary peak in beach and city travel also occurs, coinciding with the Autumn school holidays and Easter breaks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between June and September, Safari and wildlife viewing peak when dry conditions make game spotting optimal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

International destinations, including Kenya and Tanzania<\/strong>, experience the highest bookings. Locally, private reserves in Limpopo and Mpumalanga see the highest bookings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big shift<\/h2>\n\n\n
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In addition to highlighting popular destinations, Standard Bank also noted a significant shift in how travellers explore. A major change has been the shift to solo travel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This really speaks to bigger shifts in our lives – people have more financial freedom, a craving for self-discovery, and honestly, travelling by yourself just isn’t seen as weird anymore,” said Standard Bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For us in South Africa, this trend makes perfect sense. With more flight options and all the digital tools on our phones, it\u2019s never been easier to pack a bag and go.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, family travel has continued to grow, while traditional group travel has declined in popularity. This represents a significant shift from pre-pandemic patterns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard Bank said that the shift reflects several factors, including families prioritising bonding time after pandemic disruptions, changing social dynamics and the complexity of larger group travel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While people are still travelling with a social element, they are travelling in smaller pods of between two and four people instead of the traditional 8-12 person safari groups or beach holidays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While travelling in a large group is partly rejected due to its complexity, younger generations are embracing the administrative process of organising large holidays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Younger travellers basically are their own travel agents now, putting together complex, multi-city adventures that would have been a logistical nightmare just a decade ago,” said Standard Bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They\u2019re using everything from AI assistants and social media to simple planning apps to craft their dream holidays.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen Z and millennial travellers are using tools like Google Trips, TripIt, and ChatGPT to plan these trips. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s largest bank said that younger generations are not saving money, but instead focusing on spending on amazing experiences, unique places to stay, and their passions, rather than one-size-fits-all tours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re choosing to spend on amazing experiences, unique places to stay, and activities they\u2019re passionate about, rather than a one-size-fits-all tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Standard Bank says the post-pandemic travel boom continues, with South African travellers heading to three African countries in particular. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":847174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[499],"class_list":["post-847171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-standard-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847171"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847178,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847171\/revisions\/847178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}