South Africans know what they like – and they stick to it. Creatures of comfort, we love our turquoise coastlines and rand-friendly destinations, returning to them again and again, even amidst changing global travel trends. Think Mauritius, Zanzibar, Thailand, and Turkey.

“We always get asked what’s changed since the pandemic, but if you were to do a snapshot of our top destinations and routings, it’s very much what it was pre-COVID. South Africans return to the popular favourites,” says Sue Garrett, General Manager of Supply, Pricing & Marketing at Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG).

Why South Africans return to the same holiday destinations
The appeal of visa-free travel reigns supreme. “Visa requirements tend to influence travel choices significantly – our top holiday destinations are often visa-free spots. South Africans don’t want the hassle of securing visas, which is why they regularly go to places like Mauritius or Zanzibar year after year,” explains Garrett.

As mentioned, favourable exchange rates play a crucial role too. Destinations like Thailand and Turkey offer South Africans more bang for their buck, allowing holiday spending on experiences rather than just basics.
Regarding local destinations, returning to favourites like Sun City, KZN and the Garden Route gives South African holiday-goers that much-desired sense of reliability and safety.

"Our top domestic destinations over the December 2024/January 2025 summer season were Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth and George,” says Euan McNeil, Managing Director at FCTG South Africa. “These tried-and-tested locations remain popular because they're seen as safe, affordable, and reliable.”

Favourite international holiday destinations
According to McNeil, Flight Centre South Africa’s top 5 international destinations (for 1 December 2024 to 30 January 2025) are the UK, Australia, UAE, USA and Thailand.
“The bulk of our bookings for Thailand, Mauritius, UAE, Indonesia (including Bali) and Tanzania (including Zanzibar) were in December,” explains McNeil. “South Africans can’t resist visa-free destinations – especially if they have offer bang-for-buck, all-inclusive packages, warm water and beautiful beaches!”

McNeil explains that the bulk of travel to European destinations (including Italy, UK, Turkey, France, Greece and Spain) happens in August and September – as South Africans tend to avoid the cold of a European winter!

Local heroes
Closer to home, Cape Town and Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape, Umngazi in the Eastern Cape, and Ballito and Southbroom in KwaZulu-Natal remain firm favourites for domestic holidays, offering South Africans familiarity and safety without having to dig out the passports – and, of course, those beautiful beaches and balmy lagoons.
Their affordability and being close to home means extended family and friends can join the exodus to the nation’s best beaches. This social aspect of going on holiday together is another major driver for Saffer travellers, especially over the festive season when quality time with loved ones is even more prized.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said since 2015, more than R300 million has been spent on deporting undocumented foreign nationals.

•    Since 2015, just over R300 million has been spent on deporting undocumented foreign nationals.
•    Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said a high number of foreign nationals were being deported from the Lindela Repatriation Centre.
•    Schreiber was responding to parliamentary questions.

Undocumented foreign nationals are being deported within 10 days of being locked up, but deportation costs continue to drain the public purse.
Responding to parliamentary questions from ActionSA and the IFP, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber reported since 2015, more than R300 million has been spent on deporting people who were in the country illegally.
In 2015/16, the department spent R51 million on deportation costs; R28 million in 2016/17 and 2017/18; R23 million in 2018/19 and 2020/21; R22 million in 2021/22; and R17 million in 2022/23. During the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, deportation costs amounted to R54 million and R73 million, respectively.

ActionSA MP Lerato Ngobeni asked Schreiber about recouping the money spent on deportations.
Schreiber replied that Section 34(3) of the Immigration Act 2002 was used to recover some money.
This section states: "The director-general may order a foreigner subject to deportation to deposit a sum sufficient to cover in whole or in part the expenses related to his or her deportation, detention, maintenance and custody and an officer may in the prescribed manner enforce payment of such deposit."

Responding to a written parliamentary question from IFP MP Busaphi Eleonor Machi, Schreiber said the department deported a high number of inmates who were detained at the Lindela Repatriation Centre within 10 days.
The centre is the country's biggest holding facility.

Schreiber said:
The longer they stay in the facility, the more costs are incurred. The department currently bought 10 buses and trucks that will be utilised to conduct deportation through funds provided by the Criminal Assets Recovery Account instead of outsourcing the buses to conduct deportations. These are now operational and were recently used to deport Basotho nationals on 22 November 2024.

Furthermore, he added a non-profit organisation assisted the department with cleaning the facility at no cost.
"They give their members a stipend every month-end. This helps to maintain an adequate standard of the facility," Schreiber said.
He added the department informed all embassies or consular generals about their nationals who were detained at Lindela.
This is to help identify them prior to deportation and issue any travel documents that allow them to leave South Africa.
In five months – between April and August last year – South Africa spent more than R52 million to deport 19 750 foreigners who were in the country illegally.

There were more than 150 000 recorded asylum seekers and refugees in the country, with most from Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Bangladesh.
There are 68 991 active refugees, including those from Somalia (21 202), Ethiopia (13 680), the DRC (20 624), Rwanda (932), and Zimbabwe (3 408). There are also refugees from Yemen (four), Ukraine (three), and Syria (40).
In December 2022, the Constitutional Court ruled sections of the Refugees Act, which denied asylum seekers' rights unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court was confirming the Western Cape High Court's ruling, delivered by Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath.
The Scalabrini Centre had applied to the High Court for a declaratory order that subsections and regulations of the Refugees Act were inconsistent with the Constitution and were, therefore, invalid.
The centre argued the minister of home affairs – at the time Aaron Motsoaledi – the director-general of the Department of Home Affairs, and the chairperson of the department's Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs created a system whereby asylum seekers who failed to renew their visas within one month of the date of expiry were deemed to have abandoned their applications for asylum.

This was unless they could satisfy the standing committee that there were compelling reasons for their failure to renew their visas timeously.

•    The Department of Home Affairs continues its clampdown on undocumented foreign nationals.
•    More than 400 000 undocumented foreigners have been processed and just under 100 000 have been arrested.
•    The DHA is also looking at plans to improve efficiency at the country's ports of entry.

In just over three years, nearly half a million foreign nationals who were in the country illegally were apprehended by authorities, further compounding the overcrowding problems in South Africa's correctional facilities.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber revealed that thousands of undocumented and illegal persons were apprehended across South Africa over a period of about 37 months.

Responding to a written parliamentary question from ActionSA MP Lerato Ngobeni, Schreiber said a total of 410 000 undocumented foreigners have been apprehended.
Those who were apprehended are classified as inadmissible, undesirable, and undocumented.

Between 14 July 2022 and 31 March 2023, a total of 326 183 undocumented foreigners were processed by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) – of that 94 490 were arrested.

In the period between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, 1 016 undocumented foreigners were arrested out of 47 083 who were processed.

From 1 April 2024 to June 2024, there were a total of 31 873 undocumented foreigners processed. Of that, 303 were arrested.
The DHA processed 5 193 undocumented foreigners between 1 July 2024 and September last year. Only 573 of those were arrested.

On Wednesday, News24 reported that the growing number of incarcerated foreign nationals is adding to the overcrowding crisis in South Africa's correctional facilities.
This was according to Anthea Ramolobeng, chairperson of the parliamentary committee overseeing the Department of Correctional Services.

A total of 400 out of the 525 male inmates at the Baviaanspoort youth facility are foreign nationals, said Ramolobeng.
The country's prisons currently house around 156 000 inmates, which is way more than the 105 474 approved bed spaces. This means there is an alarming 48% rate of overcrowding.

By the end of March 2024, there were 22 614 foreign inmates, 690 of whom were serving life sentences.
Schreiber said a total of 672 Border Law Enforcement Officers are deployed along the border of the country at "vulnerable areas".

There are 585 deployed at vulnerable areas along the land borders; 56 at maritime border areas and 31 at OR Tambo International Airport.

"Through the allocation from the Crime Asset Recovery Account [CARA], the Border Management Authority [BMA] in collaboration with Armaments Corporation of South Africa [ARMSCOR], is in a process to procure specialised equipment such as drones, body cameras, maritime inshore patrol vessels and other advanced technological capability to maximise the BMA’s capacitation to ensure that we are able to realise our key mandates of facilitating legitimate movement of goods and people," Schreiber said.

Through the Border Security Risk and Information Committee, the BMA created a platform for regular engagement with the State Security Agency, SAPS Crime Intelligence, SANDF Defence Intelligence Division, Financial Intelligence Centre and SARS Customs Targeting Unit.

Immigration — and its dynamic effect on global development — has been the subject of many reports, studies, and debates. Its economic implications have shaped global industries for years and are changing the world for the better.

Global migration is a large-scale topic. Currently, there are an estimated 272 million international migrants, which account for 3.5% of the world’s population. While the percentage may seem relatively low, the number of migrants already surpasses some projections for 2050.

In a 2020 report by United Nations (UN), it was revealed that one in every 30 people is an international migrant. Europe and Asia alone host around 82 to 84 million immigrants.  These regions were followed by North America, which houses almost 52 million international migrants.

Every year, the percentage of international citizens traversing borders increases and drastically impacts a country’s population size, cultural diversity, and economic productivity.

With the constant wave of settlers and refugees around the world today, a significant question arises — what exactly are the causes of immigration?

The Roots of Immigration

Immigration, in its simplest definition, is the movement of people from one place or country into another one. It is a simple yet fundamental aspect of human history.

Immigration is a concept that pre-dates existing laws. Long ago, nomadic tribes traveled from place to place to find fresh and fertile lands, pastures for their livestock, and rich areas for hunting and fishing.

In modern times, immigration still continues all over the world. In the past decade, the demographic composition of people traversing borders has significantly changed. This can be attributed to a wide range of factors that we can categorize into two groups — push and pull factors.

It is essential to examine these factors in order to perfectly understand the increase of global migration throughout the years.

Push and Pull Factors

To reach well-developed immigration and foreign policy solutions, it is important to recognize the driving factors that prompt individuals to migrate.

People around the globe immigrate for a wide array of reasons that we conceptualize as “push” and “pull” factors.

Push factors are reasons that compel or push people to leave the area of where they reside and settle someplace else. Common factors can include armed conflict, disaster exposure, gender inequality, lack of job opportunities, political corruption, and lack of access to competent healthcare and education. In simple terms, push factors are negative reasons that prompt individuals to leave.

Pull factors are, on the other hand, the exact opposite of push factors. They attract or pull people to move and settle in a particular area. Common pull factors may include better work opportunities, greater security, and access to adequate healthcare and education. Simply put, pull factors are positive reasons that prompt individuals to move.

Immigration, however, is not as simple as being pulled and pushed for merely a few reasons. The push and pull framework is a combination of factors that encourage a person to leave a place of origin and factors that draw a person to a destination.

Push and pull factors are never the same for everyone, and the reasons for immigration are unique to each individual.

However, even though factors can change depending on age, gender, health, social class, and ethnicity, a push or pull factor may describe a pattern that can be attributed to many different reasons.

Quality of Life Factors

Conditions that influence an individual’s quality of life vary from person to person, but may be the leading factors leading to immigration. These can include labor standards, poverty, and the overall state of a country to provide a quality life.

In most cases, people are pulled by work opportunities in a certain area which aren’t available in their place of origin. Data analysis has even shown that there is an increase in the immigrant’s quality of life due to migration that is reflected in financial status and job satisfaction.

People from places like Syria (which has a high unemployment rate of 50%) often immigrate to escape poverty and lack of work opportunities. Numerous developed countries, including the United States, provide a network or social platform that proves to be advantageous for people hailing from less developed countries.

Immigrant workers (people who migrate to pursue work) represent nearly two-thirds of the international migrants in 2017 — standing at roughly 164 million worldwide.

Another large factor involving an individual’s quality of life is access to a proper education and to medical services that are otherwise inaccessible in their country.

War-Torn Country Factors

A major socio-political factor pushing individuals to leave their place of origin is the presence of war and conflict.

Oppression because of one’s ethnicity, religion, gender, race, and culture poses a significant risk to quality of life, which increases the odds of an individual settling elsewhere.

People fleeing conflict zones, human rights violations, and government persecution are asylum seekers that desire international protection and a safer region. Individuals who are forcibly displaced because of external factors, such as war, are refugees.

In recent times, a large number of people have fled to Europe to escape conflict, persecution, and terror in their homeland. Over a quarter of asylum seekers from Syria were granted protection status, with those from Afghanistan and Iraq following respectively.

Environmental Factors

Natural disasters and climate change are environmental factors that disproportionately affect impoverished families, especially in less developed countries.

Individuals that experience regular occurrences of floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes are most likely to immigrate. Additionally, climate change is expected to worsen weather events, leading to an increase in immigration flow.

Environmental immigrants are obliged to leave their point of origin, be it temporarily or permanently, and either move within their country or abroad to avoid the adversities of nature.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s statement on climate change and immigration, these are the three environmental factors that can affect immigration in a significant way:

1. Effects of Warming: Constant warming in certain areas will slowly bring down agricultural productivity which may lead to a lack of fertile soil and clean water.

2. Increase in Extreme Weather Events: Extreme weather events caused by the change in climate, such as violent storms and resulting flash floods, may displace millions of people.

3. Rising of Sea Level: The constant sea level rise poses an extreme environmental danger to low-lying coastal areas and may result in the permanent displacement of more than a million individuals.

Why Do People Immigrate to the US?

According to the UN’s World Migration Report of 2020, the United States of America has been the primary destination for foreign migrants since 1970.

In less than 50 years, the number of foreign-born residents of the country has more than quadrupled — from less than 12 million to close to 51 million.

The reasons why so many people immigrate to the US have changed throughout the years, but the country’s core pull factors are what make it the leading destination for immigration.

The United States ranks as one of the most desirable countries to immigrate to because of the better living conditions provided.

The country has an active economy with a wide array of work opportunities for everyone. Wages are higher than most countries, with a relatively low cost of living. Individuals coming from a more collective society prefer American individualistic values.

People that are employed in the United States who have long-distance families are great examples of what compels families to immigrate. When these people gain their green cards, they want their children to move from their native country to the United States to be with them.

Moreover, the United States has access to healthcare and quality education that is not available in many countries.

The Impacts of Immigration

As the number of immigrants increases by the year, the patterns and factors involved become harder to analyze and evaluate. With the dynamic change and demands that immigration brings, it is important to take note of its impacts.

So what exactly are the causes and effects of immigration?

• Economic Output Growth: Net immigration can lead to an increase in the labor force and productive capacity of the economy. When this happens, there is an increase in living standards with a decline in the dependency ratio. Immigration leads to stronger economic growth and, as a result, higher tax revenues, allowing for more national spending options.

• Better Workforce: Because of immigration, the economy of certain countries, like the UK, attracts highly skilled professionals that fill job vacancies, which contributes even more to higher tax revenues. This is due to the fact that immigrants are more likely to have higher educational and skill levels.

• A Flexible Labor Market: Immigrants move to economies when the wages are high, which increases labor demands. The immigrants' high mobility keeps a booming economy from overheating by providing labor to meet expanding demand.

• Filling In for Undesirable Job Opportunities: Due to low earnings or the lack of prestige associated with some positions, native-born individuals have a tough time filling them. Businesses and employers who rely on flexible labor to fill job vacancies profit from immigration. Furthermore, when low-skilled positions are filled by migrants, native-born people can seek higher-skilled work elsewhere.

A growing scarcity of workers is widely acknowledged as one of the world's most critically significant barriers to sustained economic growth amidst increasingly tight labor markets.

Immigration, without fail, is the reason behind the development and prosperity of most businesses and fills the increasing shortage of workers in labor markets.

There are numerous drivers behind an individual’s immigration, and such a complex process needs good research, political will, and most importantly, collective action from the citizens.

Immigrants are breathing new life into rural and urban communities, shaping labor markets, and building a dynamic society — all of which begins with a simple “push” and “pull”.