A survey this week of about a dozen leisure-focused accommodation establishments in Gauteng revealed that all were already fully booked for the upcoming long weekend, with many sold out for the remaining weekends in August. Tour operators and travel agents agree that there has been a surge in domestic demand following the Minister of Tourism’s announcement that intra-provincial leisure stays are now permitted.
“An unprecedented surge in enquiries this week shows that after four months in lockdown South Africans are desperate to get out and travel again,” says commercial development consultant for BushBreaks, George Argyropoulos.
George says every one of the properties that Bush Breaks promotes in South Africa is already fully booked for all weekends in August. Gauteng properties, with limited leisure-focused supply, were the first to sell out.
He is convinced that demand will increase even further when interprovincial travel is once again permitted. He says Bush Breaks is also receiving a steady flow of domestic bookings for 2021, as travellers begin to show they are ready to return to normality.
“We were initially concerned that demand would be low due to the economic situation but South Africans are indicating that they are willing to spend money. The international travel ban is also specifically driving travellers to book and spend locally,” says George.
Ceo and founder of Travelstart Group, Stephan Ekbergh, told Travel News that the group had seen a pick-up of more than 50% on domestic accommodation enquiries since intra-provincial leisure travel had been reopened.
“As most people have by now written off the possibility of an international holiday this year, there is strong demand for local accommodation. This is also in line with European trends that indicate that people are currently keen to plan trips closer to home,” says Stephan.
He says accommodation enquiries have been across the board for three-, four- and five-star options. But, because guesthouses and B&Bs have not been permitted to reopen, and because many luxury properties are still closed, there is limited supply currently available to meet the instant demand that was created last week. He adds that many South Africans have also indicated they are fed up with the nonsensical government regulations and are, in many cases, defying rules and travelling inter-provincially or in family groups.
Owner of Exclusive Getaways, Patsy Hayter, agrees, saying that when the industry initially understood that intra-provincial travel was permitted, its reservations office had seen a surge in enquiries. When the government later backtracked, disallowing leisure accommodation bookings, there had been some cancellations but many people decided to take a chance and travel regardless, or ‘for business purposes’.
“The latest announcement, which specifically allows leisure travel within one’s own province, has seen another surge of daily enquiries, particularly for the upcoming long weekend in August. Travellers are keen to get away but have low budgets and are asking for specials. Most of our enquiries have been for lodge bookings or self-catering accommodation,” says Patsy. But, she says, booking conversions have not been as high as expected.
She says the suddenness of last week’s announcement meant that many properties had not yet had a chance to regroup and reopen. She adds that it was disappointing to see many clients, who are aware of the current sad situation in the travel industry, making use of information from agents and operators and then moving forward with direct bookings to save on cost.
“It’s sad to see a lot of price-cutting taking place over very small amounts. However, it’s a good sign that many accommodation establishments are able to boast high occupancies for the first time in months. We remain cautiously optimistic about the daily requests streaming in and are hopeful that more properties will soon reopen in order to receive our enquiries.”
