Strong demand for leisure travel despite weak economy

Ymon via pixabay

"The doom and gloom that the global economy, including South Africa, is experiencing, is unsettling and is having widespread impact with regards to retrenchments, low growth and a tightening of the purse strings by government as well as the private sector. Yet South Africans are a resilient bunch who remain optimistic; they are still choosing to go on their annual overseas summer holiday - despite what the financial indicators may say," says CEO of national leisure travel specialist Pentravel, Sean Hough.

The corporate travel market, on the other hand, is feeling the pinch - for instance, government has reduced its business travel by 35% during its current budget - and suggests signs of the muted economy's influence on 'business as usual'.

Despite corporate travel's woes, it is clear that there remains a strong demand for leisure travel with all-inclusive packages to islands like Mauritius or Zanzibar, as well as cruises performing very well.

Peace of mind

"In this prolonged bear market consumers don't want surprises; if they pay R1 for their holiday, they want to know exactly what they will get for it," says Hough. So even though allocating R50,000 for a holiday is in itself a luxury, having peace of mind that it will ensure an enjoyable ten days all included on a beach or at sea is becoming increasingly attractive among income groups across the board.

"While Mauritius is one of our flagship products, we've had a particularly bumper year this year, with a fair portion of our bookings happening now and an overall 21% year-on-year increase," he says.

This is excellent news for Mauritius too. According to CNN it has been cited as the continent's most competitive economy - beating Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa and has enjoyed a long history of political stability, record of good governance and an open and flexible regulatory system. And, attracting nearly a million tourists annually, despite the global slowdown, is enjoying an annual growth rate of over 4% in 2015.

Viable destination

With all of this in its favour, not to mention its undisputed natural beauty and proximity to Johannesburg and other African countries, Mauritius presents a viable holiday destination for South Africans intent on taking their annual summer holiday.

Hough says this could be attributed to travellers seeking more value-for-money destinations, but credit must also be given to the Mauritius Tourism Authority which is strategically responding to travellers' increasingly customer-centric wants; experience over-spend, memories over trinkets.

"The Indian Ocean is enjoying the most significant increase in bookings this year at 21%; this includes Mauritius and Zanzibar. The Far East is also up at 11.5%," reports Hough. Conversely, South America is down 11%, but is due to SAA cancelling its direct flight to Argentina and, despite having the most successful World Cup Rugby season, Britain remains flat - likely because of the increasing visa cost.