FlySafair has launched FlySafair Holidays on its website, a travel package solution that offers passengers the option to book flight and accommodation packages around South Africa. And, according to Flysafair, car rental will not be far behind.
FlySafair partnered with local travel technology company, Tripco, which is best known for its LekkeSlaap booking platform. Chief marketing officer of FlySafair, Kirby Gordon, told Travel News that the airline had been working with Tripco for some time, selling FlySafair flights through the company’s LekkeVlieg platform, and had always found Tripco very much ‘on the ball’ from a technology perspective.
According to Kirby, Tripco’s strong local accommodation offering is what incentivised FlySafair to partner with the accommodation provider, with Tripco accommodation offerings pulling through to the FlySafair website as a white label offering.
Kirby added that FlySafair was not promoting the full range of Tripco accommodation offerings. While LekkeSlaap tended to play more in the B&B and small lodge arena, FlySafair had hand-picked accommodation options that were in the geographical vicinity of its flight destinations, and focused more on larger-capacity establishments.
“We saw partnering with FlySafair as the perfect opportunity to create new travel technologies and reach new markets. The lockdown created a unique opportunity for local brands to target customers who would normally travel internationally but have been unable to do so for a long time. FlySafair Holidays will combine the luxury feel of international travel with the best travel opportunities the local market has to offer,” said Tripco executive director, Jonathan Womersley.
Kirby said FlySafair had plans to further diversify its income streams and was already working on plans to add car hire to its land package offering. He said the addition of car hire to FlySafair Holidays’ options would also open up the geographical scope of the accommodation offerings that the airline was able to promote.
But, the packages are aimed at consumer markets only and no B2B (trade) booking options are available at this stage.
