Picture tourism in South Africa and familiar images quickly come to mind.
A foreign visitor on safari in Kruger National Park.
A wine tasting in Stellenbosch.
A luxury lodge surrounded by wilderness.
These experiences are an important part of the country’s tourism story. Yet they do not tell the whole story.
Behind the international arrivals and headline destinations is a much larger domestic movement: South Africans travelling within South Africa.
They travel for weddings, funerals, religious gatherings, family visits and work. They take buses, taxis and private vehicles. They buy meals, drinks, snacks and souvenirs. They use local services and stay with family or in nearby accommodation.
Much of this activity happens outside the traditional tourism spotlight.
According to Thapelo Tlailana, Social Investment Analyst at Tshikululu Social Investments, it is this largely invisible movement that helps sustain businesses and local economies across the country.
The Tourist South Africa Often Overlooks
International tourism attracts attention because the numbers are easy to see.
South Africa welcomed 10.5 million international tourists in 2025, according to the figures cited in the article. That represented a 17.7% increase from 2024 and was 2.6% above the 2019 pre-pandemic level.
But look at domestic travel and the scale changes dramatically.
The Department of Tourism’s 2026/27 Budget Vote showed that South Africans made 44.7 million overnight trips in 2025, generating R111.6 billion in tourism revenue.
More than half of those trips — approximately 24.1 million — involved visiting friends and relatives.
Many people making those journeys do not pay for accommodation.
That does not mean they are not contributing to the tourism economy.
They still have to get there.
They still eat.
They still buy things.
They still use local services.
And their spending can reach businesses that rarely appear in conventional tourism campaigns.
The figures from Statistics South Africa’s Tourism Satellite Account make the domestic contribution even more striking.
Domestic tourism expenditure reached R665.3 billion in 2024, including business travel and transport, compared with R113.9 billion from international visitors.
The difference reveals a tourism economy that extends far beyond international arrivals.
The Economic Footprint Is Bigger Than the Postcard
Tourism’s contribution to the broader economy is substantial.
Statistics South Africa’s Tourism Satellite Account shows that Tourism Direct GDP accounted for 4.9% of national GDP in 2024, compared with 3.7% in 2019.
The sector also supported 953,981 direct jobs during the same year.
That represents 5.7% of the labour force, or approximately one in every 18 working South Africans.
Yet the people keeping this economy moving are not always found inside hotels, conference centres or formal tourism businesses.
A significant part of domestic travel is driven by visits to friends and relatives.
The article notes that this pattern is deeply connected to historical migration in South Africa.
It is also resilient.
People continue travelling for cultural and family obligations, including funerals, weddings and religious gatherings, even when economic conditions become difficult.
And when they travel, their spending can flow through a different network.
Inter-provincial bus companies.
Minibus-taxi operators.
Township vendors.
Local food businesses.
Rural accommodation.
Small service providers.
In other words, the tourism economy can reach places that do not necessarily feature in conventional tourism campaigns.
Tourism Beyond the Formal Sector
A wedding is not just a ceremony.
A funeral is not simply a gathering.
A religious pilgrimage is not only a spiritual journey.
Each can generate economic activity.
Township hubs, shisanyamas and community venues can become destinations for day trips. Seasonal religious pilgrimages can move large numbers of people through local transport networks and informal retail.
The same applies to business travel.
Rural business activity is not limited to corporate delegates staying in major hotels.
Site managers, NGO workers and government officials can spend weeks working in places where major hotel chains are absent.
A single rural site visit can therefore create a concentrated local economic footprint.
Money can circulate through the community rather than flowing to a corporate head office elsewhere.
Meet the Entrepreneurs Behind the Movement
The article points to the Township Economy Programme as one example of how small businesses can become part of this wider tourism ecosystem.
Across five mining host communities in Limpopo and North West, roughly 700 small entrepreneurs are being supported through the programme.
The initiative is funded by one of Tshikululu Social Investments’ mining partners, managed through the Tshikululu Trust by Tshikululu Social Investments NPC, and implemented by the Lima Rural Development Foundation.
It was not designed specifically as a tourism intervention.
Yet its participating businesses have become connected to tourism in direct and indirect ways.
In Bokamoso, Tembela Nogaga creates beadwork and design pieces through IYOTI Crafts and Design.
In Hospital View, Mahwelereng, Khotso Pretty Legodi prepares and sells fresh meals.
Nearby, Maureen Malindisa operates MPM Fresh Produce, selling cold drinks and snacks to people travelling along a busy road.
In Mosesetjane, Hellen Lamola provides hair and nail services for weddings, funerals and homecomings.
At Ga-Chuene, Bella Makhafola operates Serampana Deco Florist, catering for weddings, church events and school functions.
Her business employs 12 people, while she also mentors 11 other entrepreneurs through the programme.
None of these businesses necessarily fit the traditional image of tourism.
Yet domestic travellers are customers.
And that connection matters.
One Village, One Tourism Business
Then there is Kagiso Kgwadi, who operates LK Transport and Tours from Sandfontein.
For Kagiso, tourism is the primary offering.
His business books vehicles for travellers, but the service goes beyond transportation.
Accommodation, travel and activities are arranged around individual trips.
That could mean a wedding party travelling to Sun City or a family making a journey across the border to Mozambique.
The business is building a tourism offering from a village that, according to the article, has largely been excluded from mainstream tourism strategies and budgets.
It is an example of what domestic tourism can look like when local entrepreneurs are able to build around the needs of travellers.
The Businesses That Do Not Fit the Box
One of the central issues raised by the article is that many of these entrepreneurs do not fit traditional sector classifications.
They are not necessarily hotels.
They are not necessarily tour operators.
They may not even describe themselves as tourism businesses.
Yet they earn a sizeable portion of their income from domestic travellers.
For some, the challenge has been the lack of systems needed to manage finances and track business performance.
The Township Economy Programme’s approach goes beyond simply providing capital.
Participants receive training, mentorship and a small grant paid directly to a supplier.
The aim is not simply to provide stock or equipment.
The article argues that the more important outcome is a stable business that can sustain jobs and grow steadily.
The Policy Question
The role of domestic tourism also raises a broader policy question.
In May 2026, President Cyril Ramaphosa described tourism as having the “unique ability to bring economic activity into rural and underdeveloped areas”.
He also recognised opportunities within the sector for young people, women-owned businesses and informal traders.
The article notes that the R2.54 billion tourism allocation for 2026/27 is intended to ensure more townships, villages and rural communities benefit from tourism.
The question, according to Tlailana, is how effectively that investment reaches businesses operating at community level.
Does the economic opportunity reach the local tour operator and crafts business?
Or does it remain concentrated around established tourism facilities such as accommodation properties and events venues?
Opening the Investment Pipeline
The article identifies access to finance as one of the significant barriers facing informal domestic tourism businesses.
Commercial lenders often require collateral.
For small businesses, that requirement can place formal finance out of reach.
Micro-grants and supplier-paid interventions can demonstrate what becomes possible when that barrier is removed. However, the article notes that such programmes reach only a fraction of the businesses that could potentially benefit.
Tlailana argues that fully harnessing tourism as a tool for economic development would require national policy and infrastructure investment to create greater access for micro-enterprises.
One proposal raised in the article concerns the Tourism Infrastructure Investment Summit, which screens projects according to investment-readiness standards.
The argument presented is that these standards may not accommodate smaller township businesses, such as guest houses or catering enterprises, that cannot currently meet conventional bankability requirements.
The article suggests introducing a tier for enterprises with turnover below R1 million as one possible way of changing who can enter the investment pipeline.
The Traveller Who Keeps Moving the Economy
This Tourism Month, the article asks South Africans to look at tourism differently.
Not only through the eyes of the international visitor.
But through the millions of South Africans who travel within their own country.
Think about the person travelling to Mokopane for a funeral.
The family heading to Northam for a wedding.
The homecoming in Rustenburg.
The money spent along those journeys does not disappear when the traveller reaches their destination.
It moves.
It can pay for a meal from a local kitchen.
A cold drink from a roadside vendor.
A taxi journey.
A handmade souvenir.
A hair appointment.
A catering service.
A transport booking.
A local tour.
That is the invisible network behind much of domestic tourism.
And while these businesses may not always appear in the glossy brochures that define South Africa’s tourism image, they are part of the economic journey.
For Tlailana, supporting initiatives such as the Township Economy Programme is about helping these businesses — and the communities in which they operate — reach their potential.
Because the story of South African tourism is not only about who flies into the country.
It is also about who gets into a car, boards a bus, climbs into a taxi and travels across the country — and where their rand eventually lands.
