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There are some pretty impressive things happening with regard to Travel and Tourism in Africa as a whole – how it is influencing global growth statistics, and very interestingly, how the rest of Africa is turning its eyes more and more toward travel in SA. But I’m going to leave further observation on that for my next article, so watch this space. I have previously written much about international travel trends so for this article I thought my readers may find it interesting to know more about South African travellers and what trends, going into 2025, are emerging. There are quite a few, according to an interesting Bizcommunity article I read, but I find that overall there are two distinctive factors to SA travel trends going into 2025 – these are that certain things never change – but that COVID-19 may have been responsible for some interesting new trends.
Some things never change
South Africans tend to favour certain ways of doing things and certain destinations when making travel choices. Although we are beginning to look at more global travel, and certainly some newer favoured African destinations like Botswana, Tanzania and Zanzibar, destinations like Mauritius and the Indian Ocean Islands, Thailand, the US and specific regions in Turkey (primarily Istanbul and the coastal resorts) are still our great favourites. According to the article, “this is largely due to factors like visa-free access, destination affordability, and familiarity with the experience”. You will also find that a lot of these destinations have great all-inclusive packages that offer South Africans, who are mostly price sensitive, good value so we do tend to favour these all-inclusive holidays where they can plan their budget.
Yes, we are creatures of habit and, until recently at least, because we are quite price-sensitive, we tend to book all travel experiences well in advance, primarily to save money. I can vouch for this and have recently had people sending quote requests to make arrangements for December 2026. Ironically, the changing trends we are seeing, however, directly oppose these trends of sameness and booking well in advance – and I believe it has much to do with the aftermath of the pandemic.
So, what is changing?
Since the pandemic (which I believe shook many of us out of our sameness mentality to want to experience new things and do things more spontaneously) a couple of new South African traveller trends have emerged. Firstly, we have taken to more of a passion for the open seas, understandable after feeling so cocooned for so long and cruises are now a great favourite. They do also offer an “all-inclusive package” kind of experience which would appeal to SA travellers, but one difference is that we are also tending now to favour quality over quantity – and this is a pretty big mindset change as the price is not as much of a barrier as it used to be. This is echoed in the aforementioned article which says, “SA travellers are prioritising exceptional, quality experiences over quantity. In other words, rather than foregoing international travel altogether, consumers are electing to travel less often, but really investing in their travel experience”.
Going rogue!
My favourite new trend is what is known as “Rogue travel”. Not only do I love the name because it is so indicative of a, “Devil may care – do it on impulse” changing attitude to the old ways of doing travel, but because I have become something of a rogue traveller myself on occasion. Defying our old ways of booking well in advance, I recently executed a rogue travel booking in Prague when I booked a December holiday 3 days before travelling – and I have heard of some US inbound visitors recently booking and travelling within two days! Again due to the pandemic, people now seem to make faster decisions if they hear of a good deal and many have more flexibility with working from home. It seems that travellers are less constrained now and understand that you don’t always get the cheapest or best airfares if you book in advance. In conclusion, if you tend to favour going a little rogue now and again, as I do, my advice would be to use the amazing technology that is now at our fingertips and, visas permitting, just be aware of and monitor trends. You’ll be astounded by how deliciously impromptu you can be and indulge in your wanderlust at a moment’s notice!
LIDIA FOLLI
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
