Victoria Falls tourism businesses canvassed by Travel News report that they have been able to salvage a significant number of bookings after the news broke of increased South African and Zimbabwean travel restrictions and BA Comair temporarily shutting down its flights for the duration of South Africa’s adjusted Level 4 lockdown. A high level of engagement between DMCs and international clients (explaining that stricter lockdown restrictions in Southern Africa are not impacting on international travel experiences), together with the ongoing commitment of regional carrier, fastjet, to the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route, are combining to make sure that cancellations are minimal.
Chief marketing officer of Wild Horizons, Shane White, explained to Travel News that the majority of international clients had traditionally transited in Johannesburg before flying out on BA Comair or SAA when visiting Victoria Falls. With SAA out of the picture BA Comair had gained much of the international market share of tourists flying into the region since resuming flights. Sadly this meant that Comair’s suspension of flights this month had initially been quite disruptive to many bookings.
Fortunately LCC fastjet has continued to service the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route during this period, offering clients an alternative option to reach the destination. While the carrier was relatively unknown internationally until now, due to limited interline and add-on agreements in place with international carriers, the airline is now very much on the radar for South African and international operators alike.
Speaking to Travel News about the situation, Fastjet’s chief commercial officer, Julian Edmunds, said fastjet had been the first airline to resume services on the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route following the lifting of international travel bans, and that the airline remained committed to connecting passengers that needed to travel between these two destinations.
“We picked up a lot of new passengers when Comair suspended its flights to the region and are happy to report that current loads for the route are very pleasing,” said Julian, who expects to ramp up flights to the region in the next few weeks.
At present, fastjet is flying between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with plans to increase flights to daily services in the next few weeks. “Subject to there being no major changes in lockdown protocols in South Africa or Zimbabwe and the current raw demand levels remaining, fastjet Zimbabwe will resume daily flights between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls from August 1,” said Julian.
Campaign co-ordinator for the We are Victoria Falls collective, Shelley Cox, said Comair’s flight suspension, plus a move to lockdown Level 4 for Zimbabwe had initially had a significant impact on bookings.
“This really shows how important it is to have a variety of flights and airlines supporting a region. We have been fortunate that fastjet has stepped up to fill the gap. While many international clients initially wanted to cancel entire itineraries, many of these were ultimately salvaged by redirecting the clients’ flights to fastjet. DMCs that had taken the time to engage with clients to explain that the latest lockdown restrictions had very little impact on clients’ international holiday experience, were also successful in holding on to bookings,” said Shelley.
She added that We are Victoria Falls was receiving great feedback from the tourists who were currently travelling. “Guests that are staying in Victoria Falls this week are reporting that, due to limited numbers of tourists in the area, they are having extremely exclusive experiences and are being treated like royalty wherever they go,” said Shelley.
Ceo of Thompsons Holidays, Joanne Adolphe, also confirmed that many of Thompsons’ clients expecting to travel to Victoria Falls had rebooked the airfare sector of their trips on fastjet rather than cancelling entire itineraries.
“Fastjet has really come to the party at this time with sufficient capacity and great airfares. As a result, we have managed to maintain stable enquiry numbers for Victoria Falls bookings, despite the introduction of lockdown Level 4 restrictions this month,” said Joanne.
“As South Africans remain banned from many international destinations, we have also seen increased interest in Victoria Falls as a December holiday destination. While Victoria Falls bookings had traditionally averaged two or three nights, we are now seeing clients booking for five nights or longer. We are encouraging this with promotions such as our ‘Ticket to Adventure’, which includes a choice of three out of five Victoria Falls adventure activities that we offer to clients for a set price,” she added.
