The lure of good weather, stunning scenery and exotic animals has allowed South Africa to carry on growing in popularity as a gap year destination, a new study has confirmed.
According to the latest figures published by the Gap Year Group, the country is now the number one choice for Britons looking to take a structured gap year, overtaking long-standing favourites such as Australia and New Zealand.
Canada and Kenya have also benefited from a surge in popularity, though the UK didn't even make it into the top ten preferred destinations, indicating that travellers are becoming more adventurous and therefore
gap year travel insurance more important than ever.
Drawing a conclusion from this latest research, Richard Oliver, chief executive of Year Out Group, stated: "The number of individuals embarking on volunteering projects, expeditions, structured work placements, courses and cultural exchanges is on the increase - Year Out Group members alone sent nearly 47,000 people on gap year schemes in 2007."
This flies in the face of recent claims that young Britons are being deterred from taking a year out due to the current state of the economy.
