South Africa is the third most popular dream destination, according to the Virtuoso Travel Dreams survey, which is aimed at top luxury travellers.

The top dream destination for Virtuoso members is Australia, followed by Italy.

South Africa also featured in fifth place as the most ideal family destination. Photographing the Big Five on an African safari was listed in sixth place among the top trips of a lifetime, beating experiences such as renting a private island and blasting off on a Virgin Galactic flight.

Virtuoso identified survey respondents as married (73%), female (61%) with children aged 18 or older (47%). Sixty-two percent of readers are between the ages of 35 and 65 and 46% have household incomes in excess of US$150,000 (R1m).

Virtuoso is a by-invitation-only organisation and comprises over 300 agencies with more than 6,000 elite travel specialists in 22 countries in North and South America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand. Virtuoso Life is a magazine for the top clients of Virtuoso travel consultants and for World Elite MasterCard cardholders.