BUSINESS confidence is growing following the country’s May 8 elections and bookings are up. Overall, there is a sense of optimism about the future. From the first to the second half of May, Travel Counsellors has seen an increase of up to 22% in bookings, says Mladen Lukic, gm of Travel Counsellors SA. “There has been renewed interest as corporate travellers have cleared their thinking in terms of expectations for the elections and they are now catching up with the inactivity of the weeks and months leading up to the elections.” In the May 1 issue of TNW, operators and agents were reporting a ‘wait and see’
approach being adopted by customers in the lead-up to the elections. After the elections, Flight Centre saw a small spike in bookings from corporate and leisure travellers. Andrew Stark, md of Flight Centre Travel Group, says it experienced a record-breaking May but he attributes this mostly to the group’s diversified-brand approach. Andrew predicts that, from a business perspective, as the new government administration settle in to their roles, business will improve. Rodger Foster, ceo and md of Airlink, says there was a lot of uncertainty around the elections and that perhaps South Africa is still feeling a sense of lethargy. Strategic growth
at the airline is up, with passenger numbers increasing 22% year-to-date, since September 2018. While it’s still early days since the election, there has been a slight increase in bookings, says Marco Cristofoli, ceo of BCD Travel South Africa. He says there is less trepidation after elections and people travel more, but adds that the next three to six months will be important for measuring success. However, the trade has still expressed concerns about the economy. South Africa’s GDP shrunk by 3,2% in the first quarter of 2019. Both Rodger and Marco stress that there needs to be more stability in government policy for the travel and tourism sector to improve.
