African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, Volume 6 (3) - (2017) ISSN: 2223-814X Copyright: © 2017 AJHTL - Open Access- Online @ http//: www.ajhtl.com 1 The expenditure patterns of Zimbabweans travelling to and from South Africa for Visiting Friends and Relatives purposes Lianda Gamuchirai Dzikiti* School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Email: dzikitilianda@yahoo.com and Dr Clinton. D. van der Merwe School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Email: clinton.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za Tel: +27 11 717 3173 Corresponding author* Abstract Tourism contributes to economic development in both developed and developing countries. Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel is one of the largest forms of tourism on a global level. However, there has been limited research over the past decades on VFR travel especially in developing countries. In recent times, VFR travel has attracted the attention of researchers due to an increasing rate of migration resulting in the promotion of regional tourism through VFR travel. Despite the influx of migrants in South Africa, research on international VFR travel has been limited as most research on VFR travel has been on a local level from one province to another. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the expenditure patterns of Zimbabweans travelling to and from South Africa for VFR purposes. Furthermore, the study seeks to identify the benefits of VFR travel to individual households in Zimbabwe. Using a quantitative framework, 200 questionnaires were distributed to Zimbabweans and a Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) was used as an analytical tool. Data analysis and discussion of the results reveal that VFR travellers from South Africa spend more than VFR travellers to South Africa on transport costs, food and beverages, entertainment and financial remittances. The expenditure is based on socio-demographics and the actual expenditure at a destination. Due to VFR travellers’ expenditure, the benefits, which are directed to individual households in Zimbabwe, include household upkeep, education, business investment, health and other reasons. Thus, this study focuses attention on international VFR travel and its contribution to the tourism economy both in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Keywords: Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR), Tourism, Migration, Expenditure, Regional Tourism, South Africa, Zimbabwe. Introduction The concept of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel involves people travelling to a different location from their place of residence to visit friends and relatives and is distinct from other forms of tourism, such as business or long term travellers such as missionaries or volunteers (Barnet et al., 2010; Papathanassis, 2011). Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel contributes to international and domestic markets through various activities that people partake in during the course of the visit (Morrison et al., 1995a; Morrison et al., 1995b; Seaton and Palmer, 1997; Rogerson, 2017a; 2017b). Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) tourism enables the tourists to have a feeling of being home, even though they are in a foreign land or place, thus VFR can be practiced within national and international boundaries (Morrison et al., 1995; Seaton and Palmer, 1997; Lehto et al., 2001; Uriely, 2010). The mobility of VFR