New data reveals SA’s most popular small-town staycation spots

Best small-town staycation spots

New data from the Budget Insurance Travel Index has used Google searches for ‘staycation ideas’ to reveal the most popular small-town destinations in South Africa.

According to IOL, the index analysed over 100 small-town destinations covering four key metrics, including volume of Instagram and TikTok hashtags, monthly global and local Google searches, and average accommodation prices, to find the country’s top destinations to visit.

The data was then averaged to reveal a final score, showcasing the most popular spots to visit in South Africa.

The top five

According to the study, these small-towns featured the top five for their popularity:

Ballito: KwaZulu-Natal’s Ballito was named South Africa’s coastal adventure retreat with a score of 87.9 out of 100, also topping the list with more than 300 000 hashtags on Instagram.

Oudtshoorn: Western Cape’s Oudtshoorn came second with a score 75.9 out of 100. The data also showed that Oudtshoorn has more than 40 000 monthly Google searches.

Paternoster: Beautiful Paternoster in the Western Cape received a score 74.1 out of 100, and had 135 000 monthly Google searches.

Bronkhorstspruit: Bronkhorstspruit, a small town in Gauteng, received a score of 73.6 out of 100, as well as 60 000 monthly Google searches on the index.

Hartbeespoort: And finally, Hartbeespoort scored 71.4 out 100 and had more than 8 000 TikTok posts.