Travel experts are expecting a massive exodus of South Africans in 2018. Speaking to Biznews, Marc Sharpe, MD at LCR Capital Partners said that he expected the increase based on current travel trends and a significant increase in the number of South Africans looking to emigrate.

“We’re expecting this increase because of the unprecedented interest we’ve had from South Africans wanting to emigrate to the U.S. since 2016,” said Sharpe.

“Given that it usually takes around two years to go from making arrangements to leave, to actually leaving the country, we will probably only see the full emigration impact in 2018 or 2019.”

Sharpe said that the primary reasons include better economic/job oppurtunities; education opportunities for children; and the high levels of crime in South Africa.

However Sharpe said that he was increasingly seeing South Africans which did not provide a specific reason for leaving, but rather had a “deep-seated pessimism” about the future in South Africa.

“South Africans already know what an electricity crisis is like, and residents of the Western Cape are currently living with a severe water crisis,” said Sharpe.

“As people lose confidence in government’s ability to provide even the most basic services, they start to look for other options, particularly for their children,” said Sharpe.

He said that the biggest barrier to emigrating remained the high costs involved, with the depreciating rand making it increasingly difficult to leave the country as exit costs rise.

Read: Why more South Africans are looking at this country as a ‘cheap’ citizenship destination