South African Tourism India office hosted a virtual conclave with seven experts across the travel value chain. The aim of the conclave was to arm South African travel partners with insider knowledge and a holistic view of the Indian traveller segment, which is the 8th largest international source market for South Africa. Over 120 travel trade members from South Africa got a view of the dynamically transforming distribution system, enabling them to adjust strategy and proactively address the emerging needs of the Indian traveller under the new normal.
According to the expert panel, as Indians shift from group travel to FIT / family travel in a major way, packages and itineraries will need to be customised accordingly. Experience-seeking millennials, HNIs and the family-oriented middle-class segments are anticipated to be the driving force behind leisure travel recovery, while MICE travel can be expected to recover early next year albeit with smaller group sizes.
A common thread through the discussion was the established resilience of Indian travellers, who are eagerly awaiting the opening up of skies and borders as they look to travel again. These travellers are now actively seeking safety assurance and good deals. They may, however, now choose to travel differently – the industry can expect to see a rise in FITs, demands for drivecations, and flexible booking dates. From January to December 2019, the destination welcomed 95,621 Indian visitors, a 2.3 pc YoY increase.
“As we develop and package experiential products for this market, it is imperative that the South African travel industry understands the evolving thought process of the post-Covid Indian traveller. We have maintained that a greater level of collaboration is required within the supply chain, even if it means cross-border communication and deeper associations amongst provincial and city tourism boards. We are pulling out all stops to ensure we engage meaningfully with the Indian consumer as well as our trade partners in India and South Africa. The fact that we’ve invested efforts in educating and training over 4000 Indian trade agents, through the lockdown period, is testament to this,’’ says Neliswa Nkani, hub head – MEISEA, South African Tourism.