Global recovery picked up pace in 2022, and arrivals for Africa are currently only 33 pc down compared to 2019
Market research firm ForwardKeys presented a report about the tourism trends in Africa in the year 2022 at the ongoing World Travel Market Africa, as part of the Africa Travel Week, which is being held in Cape Town, South Africa.
Luis Millan, head of research at ForwardKeys, explained that long-stay travellers have shown the most resilience over the past months. Next in line has been the luxury, high-end market with travellers willing to spend more on premium services to Africa.
Millan said that whereas global markets have relied heavily on inter-regional travel, the situation for Africa is very different. He explained that African tourism is driven mainly by long-haul travel, with the top three source markets currently leading the recovery for Africa being France, the United States and the United Kingdom.
African tourism performed above the global benchmark in 2021. In 2021, arrivals to Africa were down 64 pc compared to 2019 as opposed to 74 pc internationally. Global recovery picked up pace in 2022, and arrivals for Africa are currently only 33 pc down compared to 2019.
According to Millan, traveller confidence is steadily improving, as reflected in the recovery after the announcement of the Omicron variant. “This recovery has happened faster than other crises. It is a sign that traveller confidence has increased,” he said.
These data insights are crucial for African destinations if they want to better understand the customer journey and the opportunities available to them in a post-pandemic world.
For South Africa, specifically, Millan pointed out that there has been a marked increase in interest from US travellers wanting to visit the country. Flight searches from the US for South Africa increased significantly between January and February this year. “By identifying travel trends in real-time, destinations can identify incredible opportunities, said Millan.
Robert Manson, chief digital transformation, Technology, Data Analytics and Insights Officer for South African Tourism, agreed and said it is imperative that the provinces and country use data to understand the customer journey better.
“We need to understand what tourists want to do after two years of travel restrictions so that we can drive tourism,” said Manson. “Data also helps us create a conducive environment that will attract airline partners and improve connectivity to South Africa. We are actively working to drive connectivity and create an appetite for airlines to come to our country.”
Another key topic for discussion at WTM Africa was diversity and inclusion.
“Tourism is the most diverse employer globally by virtue of who we are and what we do. Inherently, diversity is a factor that predicates the success of our industry,” said Ndumiso Mngomezulu, managing director Bold: House of Brave. “Travellers look for diversity: they seek out different experiences, languages, cultures through their travels.”
Unfortunately, when diversity is not achieved, it reflects on the reputation of the entire destination, Mngomezulu added. “If travellers don’t recognise themselves on your website or if they walk into a hotel and experience micro-aggressions in the form of staff bias towards them, it affects how they feel about the destination. This is often hard to pinpoint, and a feeling travellers have. It reflects in the way people connect and do things.”
