LOCAL airlines, hotels and
car-rental companies are
seeing a drop in domestic
travel, but the retail trade
seems to be weathering the
storm, with some agents
saying numbers are up.
In its annual financial
results, Comair said
the domestic market
had contracted by 4%.
Hein Kaiser, Mango’s
communication manager,
says: “Statistically airlines are
only able to provide numbers
on air travel, however, one can
assume that concomitant to a
decline in domestic passenger
numbers, a consequent
decline in travel numbers may
be expected.”
He says the shrinking of the
domestic market is likely a
consequence of an increased
cost of living, a weakened
economy and a hangover
from the global financial
crisis. Similarly, Danny Bryer,
director of sales, marketing
and revenue for Protea
Hotels, says the domestic
market is “slightly down” as
a direct result of the national
economic climate. Clifford
Ross, ce of the City Lodge
Hotel Group, believes South
Africans in the lower LSMs
(living standards measure)
are cutting down on travel as
costs escalate and disposable
income dwindles.
Lance Smith, head of
executive sales for Avis
Rent a Car SA, says Savrala
statistics show that domestic
travel is down, “mainly
driven by less corporate
and government travel”.
He predicts that the next
12-month window will see
further tightening of belts.
But, it seems, the trend has
not affected agent bookings.
Andrew Stark, retail gm of
Flight Centre South Africa,
says the group is currently
tracking 15% up year-on-year
on domestic ticket numbers.
Andrew says customers are
increasingly seeing the benefit
of being able to book their
full holiday package through
an expert rather than going
through multiple suppliers.
“We also have a large repeat
customer base and some of
those customers are changing
their travel purchases to have
more of a balance between
international and domestic
holidays,” he adds.
Marco Cristofoli, md of
Harvey World Travel, which
has also seen some growth
in its domestic figures, says
the discrepancy in figures
between suppliers and agents
could be because the market
that books directly with the
airline is under pressure. “The
direct market is generally
your price-sensitive consumer
who travels mostly through
loyalty programmes such as
Discovery, etc.
“Despite the general slowdown
in the South African
economy, the Harvey World
Group has not experienced a
decline in domestic figures, in
fact quite the opposite, with
general overall growth, albeit
small. The domestic market
is vitally important to Harvey
World, considering the majority
of our corporate client base
falls within the SME sector,
which have a high propensity
to travel locally to grow their
business within SA borders.”
Not all retail brands are
experiencing an increase
though. Garth Wolff, ceo of
eTravel, says he has noticed
a decline in domestic travel.
“Economic conditions this
year have been extremely
tough, starting with the
impact of the strikes and
the government not doing
much to attract international
investment.”
According to Jonathan
Gerber, director at TAG, there
is reason to believe that
South African GDS segments
are 9% down for the year.
“While this would be a
combination of all outbound
travel, the trend is very
worrying. I think the inflated
domestic airfares coupled with
the weakening economy are
major contributing factors,”
he says.
George Harb, Travelport’s
md for Southern Africa,
Zambia and Zimbabwe, says:
“What we can see from the
latest figures is that there is a
small decline in domestic and
international GDS bookings
compared with last year, which
could be in part down to
various factors ranging from
economic slowdown, impact
of elections and labour strikes
that had influenced April and
May volumes and bookings
that are made on supplier
websites which do not appear
in GDS reports.”
Recovery ahead?
Jonathan believes the
introduction of FlySafair into
the market will help domestic
numbers “as lower prices may
well turn into more travellers”.
Garth believes the market
will recover sooner rather than
later, as everything works
in swings and roundabouts.
“Once the economy recovers
we will see an increase once
more. The recovery will be
soon and by March 2015 we
will have forgotten that things
were this flat
