At Africa’s Travel Indaba, the trade show held in Durban May 9-11, South African Tourism presented a seminar called USA Market Access Workshop. It was targeted at African tourism businesses looking for insights on how to penetrate the vast North American travel market. But the market intelligence presented could be equally valuable to American travel advisors looking for insights on how to tap into the potential American market for travel to Africa.
During 2021, North America temporarily became South Africa’s largest market, displacing the UK, which has been South Africa’s top source market for many years, based on deep ties from colonial times, South Africa’s membership in the Commonwealth, and the UK’s greater proximity to South Africa.
Since that time, the UK has recovered its leading position in the South African arrivals market, but the US continues to be South Africa’s fastest-growing market. The UK market is mature, without much of room to grow. The US market is huge and barely penetrated, so it presents itself as a ripe opportunity for South African tourism businesses and American travel advisors tapping into the market.
For 2022, South Africa received 262,183 arrivals from the US, which was a 220 percent increase over 2021 and amounted to 70 percent of the 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
The US market is like a huge pot of gold, but penetrating it is not easy. It’s an environment of dense marketing messages. Breaking through and having your message heard above the noise is an extremely difficult and expensive proposition. Therefore, the real gold in this story is market intelligence.
Neesha Pillay, head of insights for South African Tourism, created a portrait of the American traveler drawn from extensive market research. She said that the increased capacity of airlift from the United States provided by Delta Air Lines and United Airlines has been a major contributor to the growth in arrivals and bookings from the North American market. Both airlines have picked up some of the routes abandoned by South African Airways, the nation’s national carrier, when it stopped flying international routes in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.
In spite of losing its national carrier, South Africa now has 45 percent more air capacity than in 2019, the benchmark year we all remember as the last year when things might have been called normal. Fares are currently around $1,300-$1,700.
Pillay also mentioned that the extreme exchange rate between the dollar and the South African rand, makes South Africa even more affordable than usual. The US dollar was trading at 19 rand at the time of the conference.
In 2010, the year the soccer World Cup was held in South Africa, the exchange rate hovered between 6.6 rand per dollar and 7.9 rand per dollar. Even at that rate, the purchasing power of the dollar in South Africa seemed to be about double what it would be within the United States.
Pillay shared further insights from SAT’s market research. Most American travelers are motivated to explore new cultures and history and to enjoy beautiful scenery. The culture has shifted from collecting material goods to gaining experiences.
Americans book about four to 11 months prior to departure. Their average stay is 12 days. Most book accommodation independently. Most travel for holiday, not for family visits or business. They spend mostly on hotels and game lodges, as well as shopping, food and transportation.
The top three provinces they visit are Western Cape, home of Cape Town and the wine country; Gauteng, home of Johannesburg and Soweto township; and Mpumalanga, home of Kruger National Park.
The number one reason Americans travel to South Africa is safaris. The second reason is “to fulfill a dream.”
“Of all the markets South Africa works in, all 24, the US market is the only one that uses these words, ‘to fulfill a dream,’” said Pillay. “So it’s quite a nice marketing opportunity when you are putting itineraries together. They are very passionate about South Africa. In itineraries, they definitely want safari. They love to explore culture and history, to look at the beautiful scenery. Variety of activities is quite important, so an itinerary needs to have many different things to experience. They love off-the-beaten-track experiences, people-focused experiences. They want to immerse with the locals, whether it’s through food or different kinds of experiences, urban and rural experiences.”
Americans are independent travelers, she said, and they look for information online. “Social media, travel aggregators, travel agents, we work to be present in all these spaces.”
Shelby Johnson, vice president and partner of travel and mobility strategy at UM Worldwide, shared insights from her firm’s extensive market research and analysis. She referred to a subset of American travelers who prioritize long-haul travel and are willing to pay more for brands they characterize as unforgettable.
She called this demographic “Adventurous Trendsetters,” people who are passionate about travel, whose identity is wrapped up in the pursuit of new adventures and experiences, marching out ahead of the trends. These travelers also value experience over material things. They seek cultural immersion and care about environmentalism, social responsibility and wellness, and they will spend money for those things. They tend to follow the maxim of either “going big or staying home.”
“This consumer is looking to chart an unbeaten path across the globe as they are traveling to different countries,” she said. “They like to live on the wild side, which fits great with safaris. And they want to make sure that they are capturing and taking in experiences that they can use to peacock and differentiate themselves from the rest of their world and their peer group.”
Furthermore, she said, “They are seekers of cultural immersion. They want to make sure that they are understanding the deep storytelling heritage of the different sites they are traveling through.”
Shaun T. Whitley, CRO and co-founder of Travel Relations LLC, explained to African tourism companies how the American travel advisor distribution network works, based on his company’s research and data collection, and showed why that network is the key to market penetration in America. According to his figures, there are more than 128,000 travel advisors in North America who then connect to individual travel consumers in the field.
He explained that paying commission or offering net pricing is the essential basis of a business relationship with travel advisors. What the suppliers get in return is penetration into that massive market through specialists who can lead them through the mass of hundreds of millions to those who are actual prospects.
Stephanie M. Jones, MBA, founder and CEO of Cultural Heritage Economic Alliance, Inc. (CHEA), provided insights into the African American market, which is clearly one of the most exciting prospects for African tourism businesses.
According to research by MMGY, African American leisure travelers spent $109.4 billion on travel in 2019, she said, which amounts to 13.1 percent of the USA leisure travel market. There is a trend of increasing numbers of them traveling to Africa. Black American travelers are motivated by a desire to discover their African heritage and reclaim their ancestral roots. They are also moved by a desire to support Black-owned businesses. There is a deep affinity between African Americans and Black South Africans, with many shared cultural values. Some political trends in America in recent times have accentuated those feelings of wanting to travel or even move to Africa. Black Americans also want to travel to places where they feel safe.
“This is very personal to me, she said, “and to a lot of Black people in the United States because we feel a connection to the African continent, whether we’ve been here or not.”
For African tourism companies wishing to penetrate North America, Jones advised connecting with travel advisors through travel trade shows, creating a strong social media presence, hosting Black travel influencers from North America, and partnering with counterparts in the USA.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
