Living out of the suitcase : is domestic tourism an effective tool for regional convergence : divergence of expenditure patterns in South Africa from 2013 to 2015?

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Domestic tourism not only allows for the interaction of people with diverse social and cultural backgrounds, but also for the redistribution of income and wealth through domestic visitor expenditure patterns. It has the potential to reduce inequality and improve the poverty conditions of struggling communities. Domestic tourism is viewed favourably as a basis for regional development, but there could be a significant regional component to variations in domestic travel and domestic tourism within the borders of the country. This is because domestic tourism is drawn to areas of comparative economic advantage within the country. The aim of this study is to determine if and how domestic tourism and the associated domestic tourism expenditure contributes to regional convergence-divergence within South Africa at provincial level. The data analyses and presentation of domestic tourism same-day and overnight expenditure inflows and outflows will be done on a provincial level using the Statistics South Africa Domestic Tourism Survey from 2013 to 2015. The domestic tourism trip characteristics as well as the sociodemographic and socio-economic characteristics of domestic visitors, both for domestic tourism same-day trips and overnight trips, will also be analysed for the same period. For six of the nine provinces of South Africa, more than half of the domestic tourism expenditure originating within those provinces from 2013 to 2015 never left the borders of the provinces themselves. Gauteng experienced the biggest net outflow of total domestic tourism expenditure and KwaZulu-Natal experienced the biggest net inflow of total domestic tourism expenditure. Gauteng generated a third of all domestic tourism expenditure in South Africa from 2013 to 2015 and showed promise as the main contributor to regional convergence through domestic tourism expenditure. Important policy implications are also discussed.