AIRLINK will boost connectivity to St Helena from November with the introduction of a seasonal Tuesday flight from Johannesburg. The new flight is in addition to the airline’s scheduled Saturday service.
Airlink has confirmed that its JNB Tuesday flight will operate from November 28 until the end of February 2024.
St Helena officials are excited about the possibility that a Cape Town connection could also be reinstated in 2024.
Matt Joshua, Head of Tourism, told trade partners during a recent visit to SA that Airlink’s direct flight from SA had been a game changer. Previously, the only way to reach the island from SA was a five-day trip on a mail ship.
Joshua said tourism had recovered to around 73% of pre-COVID levels, and St Helena hoped to reach pre-pandemic arrival figures by 2024. However, capacity constraints would put a limit on how fast the industry could grow and to what size.
He was speaking at an information evening for travel partners and supporters at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town at the end of May. It was one of his last stops on a visit to South Africa that also included hosting an event for the diaspora market, which Joshua referred to as ‘roots travel’.
Cape Town and St Helena have extremely strong cultural ties. A filmmaker at the event said as many as 800 000 Capetonians were descendants of Saints – as inhabitants of the island are known.
Joshua said St Helena Tourism wanted to develop more soft and hard adventure tourism to widen its appeal. Fibre Internet service is also coming to the island, which will give Saints a chance to target new niche markets and digital nomads. Joshua said cellphone technology had only arrived in St Helena in 2015.
“We are happy to be small. We have around 30 buses available when a cruise ship comes in.”
Of 5 000 tourist visits recorded from 2019-2020, St Helena Tourism said at least half were purely leisure visitors.
Joshua emphasised that it was highly advisable for travellers to arrive with a properly planned itinerary, with bookings made at least a month in advance for all the necessary accommodation and car rental, as capacity on the island was limited. However, he added that St Helena’s bus service network was improving and that a new tourist card had been introduced to enable visitors who weren’t carrying cash to spend money on the island (there are no ATMs).
The most popular time to visit is January-April, which is also when whale sharks can be spotted in the area.
Marine wildlife and hiking are two of St Helena’s biggest draw cards. The island has its own marine Big Five – whales, sharks, seals, dolphins and penguins.
Joshua said many visitors returned to St Helena to tick off the island’s official hiking trails in a special postbox hiking trail ‘passport’. Hikers stamp their ‘passport’ in the ‘postbox’ at the start and the end of each trail – popular postbox walks for visitors can be seen here.
Others choose St Helena for extreme challenges like swimming around the island. St Helena is also working on a plan for ‘the world’s most remote marathon’.
Joshua was keen to impress upon his audience that St Helena is, in fact, a year-round destination. “Don’t only make time for the whale sharks,” he pleaded. “We want to spread the business!”
The island, however, is not a budget holiday, with airfares in the region of £800 (R18 870). St Helena is British territory and its currency is sterling and the St Helena pound, which are at par. Joshua said a budget of about £3 500 (R82 580) would cover accommodation at the four-star Mantis St Helena on a bed-and-breakfast basis (or similar), dinner, lunch, and activities for a week.
He said the St Helena Tourist Office was well placed to pair clients with the best local DMC. Joshua recommended the Farm Lodge Country House, several guest houses and self-catering options. The Tourist Office can give more details. Hosted homestays are also available.
St Helena Tourist Office suggests that when agents book self-catering options for clients, they arrange with hosts to arrange food starter-kits.
Pre-pandemic, the optimum length of stay was a week (tied to the flight schedule). Post-pandemic, Joshua has found that visitors want to stay 12 days to two weeks and said he was excited to see more people extending their stays as Airlink’s international service grew.
