September

In the Premium & Frequent Flyer feature, we
plot the rise and rise
of premium economy
Photo: KQ
and round up the latest benefits for loyal passengers. From page 14.
The demand
fo r c r u i s e s
h a s s t aye d
buoyant this
year, despite
fluctuations
Photo: Regent Seven Seas
in pricing.
See the Cruises feature, from page 10.
New low-cost regional carrier,
flyafrica.com takes flight. More
on the airline’s syndication and
growth strategy on page 8.
Travel Industry Review
Published by TTG Southern Africa
International operators warn of huge drop
in inbound tourism due to visa regulations
And outbound industry tries to stop the clock on new child travel rules in bid to limit losses
BY SARAH CORNWELL
OPERATORS in overseas
source markets requiring
visas are warning that the
introduction of new immigration rules could cut their
business to South Africa by
more than half, as pressure
mounts for Home Affairs to
review its new policy, which
was drawn up without industry consultation. Local inbound tourism
stakeholders are also warning that new requirements
– specifically the collection
of biometric data for foreign
visa applicants and Home
Affairs’ new child travel
policy – will drastically cut
business, leading to loss of
jobs and potential closures. At the end of last month,
Home Affairs was still main-
taining that the forecast losses were grossly overstated
and still “speculative”, despite a growing number of
experts in the industry stating losses and damage to
brand South Africa were inevitable. The department had
still not met with industry
representatives to review its
new policies.
T he Tou r ism Busi ness
Council of South Africa and
the Association of Southern
African Travel Agents, have
appealed for a one-year stay
on the start date for the new
requirement for families,
demanding those travelling
with children to produce unabridged birth certificates in
addition to passports at international immigration checkpoints. They maintain the exten-
sion is necessary to provide
time to explore alternative
solutions which would satisfy Home Affairs and the
interests of the travel trade,
as well as to communicate
the new policy to travellers
continued on page 4
Ebola crisis: more
restrictions apply
for SA travellers
BY SARAH CORNWELL &
DOMINIC WARDALL
FURTHER operating restrictions are expected to be introduced as the Ebola crisis
continues to escalate, with
South African passport holders now barred from travel to
affected West African states
except in exceptional circumstances.
South Africans may also
increasingly be asked to provide health certificates when
entering international, longhaul destinations, with the
outbreak now declared an
international emergency.
The requirement has already been implemented for
travel to Indonesia. I ndone sia’s Con su lat e
General in Cape Town said
the precautionary measure
continued on page 2
AVIAREPS staged its annual Airline Mini Fair in Cape Town last month, joined by dozens
of international and regional carriers and some of the Cape’s leading retail companies.
More than 250 travel consultants attended, with a briefing from Home Affairs shedding
some light on new and still pending changes to South African immigration legislation.
Pictured on show day, Air Namibia sales executives Winnie Karamata (seated left) and
Eloise Liebetrau. See page 18 for more.
Pentravel’s senior managers, store managers and preferred suppliers marked another
year of sales growth at its annual managers’ conference, held recently in Bangkok.
Pictured above (l to r): Michelle Bergset, Pentravel National Sales Manager; Joanna
Overbeek, Gauteng Regional Manager; Karen Swaby, Pentravel Cresta Shop Manager;
Julie Katopodis, Pentravel East Gate Shop Manager; Ursula Craig, Pentravel Fourways
Shop Manager and Samantha Boyce, Pentravel Benmore Shop Manager. Chief Executive Officer, Sean Hough, shares his expectations for future growth on page 6.
SA Tourism to overhaul
foreign arrival counts New methodology to provide credible stats,
more accurate tourism growth projections
BY SARAH CORNWELL
SOUTH African Tourism
has committed to overhaul
the way tourist arrivals are
reported. The change is part
of the association’s updated
five-year strategic plan, set
to kick in after the current
financial year.
“Until now our deliverable
has been based on foreign
arrivals to the country. But,
from the start of our 2015/16
financial year, we will meas-
ure on the basis of tourist arrivals only,” explained Chief
Executive Officer, Thulani
Nzima.
Mr. Nzima first revealed
the intended change in an
address at the Tourism Business Council of South Africa’s Annual General Meeting
in July.
The topic has been widely
debated by industr y analysts, who maintain the current definition of a tourist
has skewed South Africa’s
foreign arrival and tourism
statistics.
SA Tourism has also provided a definitive split in
its count of arrivals for the
2013/14 financial year.
According to the ogranisation’s latest published figures, South Africa received
14.86-million foreign arrivals in the 12-month period,
9.61-million of whom were
tourists.
Mr. Nzima said the organicontinued on page 5
News Digest
Ebola crisis: travel restrictions apply for SA travellers
continued from page 1
had been applied “to protect
the country’s health and prevent the spread of the virus
to other areas”. Certificates
must be produced at the time
visa applications are lodged.
Because of potential leakage of borders, the South African Department of Health
has also imposed new restrictions, closing the country’s
borders to foreign nationals
who have travelled through
high-risk areas, including
Liberia, Guinea and Sierra
Leone, within a 30-day period. For medium and low-risk
countries, surveillance has
been enhanced.
Restrictions on travel to
and from the Democratic Republic of Congo were expected to be applied in the region
as a precautionary measure
after a less serious strain of
the virus was detected in the
central African state.
Several countries unaffected by the virus have also
closed their borders to entry
by travellers from affected
countries.
In South Africa, corporate travel specialists expect
internal travel policies could
restrict if not ban travel further if the situation intensifies.
The Ebola outbreak was
declared an inter national
emergency last month with
the World Health Organization reporting more than
1,300 cases and 720 deaths
across Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone between March
and the end of July. Although only one probable case had been detected
in Nigeria by the time an
emergency committee was
convened, the WHO said the
virus’ jump into another state
represented a “significant development”. Health officials have demanded exit screening of all
travellers at international airports, sea ports and major
land crossings in a bid to stop
the spread of the virus. Airlines have also been advised
to take strict precautions and
have been briefed on how
to deal with any suspected
cases of EVD. WHO officials are adamant any infected person
should not be allowed to travel, unless travel is part of an
appropriate medical evacuation.
But international air transport authorities maintain the
risk to air passengers is low.
South African Air ways
said late last month a decision on whether to suspend
f lights into West African
states known to be affected
was still under consideration.
Howeve r, Br it ish A i rways became the second ma-
Most Read
stories from the past month...
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New immigration rules threaten
schedules say airlines.
Kenya abandons in-person visa
applications.
Industry slams government
intransigence on child travel.
SA immigration on high alert as
Ebola outbreak widens.
FlySafair outlines new pricing
model for first local flights.
jor international airline to
withdraw from the region
last month when it cancelled
f lights to Sierra Leone and
Liberia. Those routes were
still under review at the time
of writing.
Emirates has also withdrawn from Guinea in response to concerns over the
Ebola crisis and its potential
impact not only on the Gulf
but also the carrier’s extensive connecting network. On the advice of the Kenya
Ministry of Health, Kenya
Airways later moved to suspend operations to Sierra
Leone and Liberia. Borders
are also closed to any passengers who had been or passed
through Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The airline would continue to fly to Abidjan, Dakar,
Bamako, Cotonou, Lagos,
Abuja and Accra, with all
flights to Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
from West Africa, Kigali and
Addis Ababa allocated different gates where passengers were being re-screened.
This includes transit passengers.
“What we see is reschedu li ng of t r avel wh ich is
natural in cases of such out
breaks,” said Kenya Airways
Regional Manager Rosemary
Adogo, of the early impact on
passenger volumes.
Retailers said they would
continue to monitor the situation.
“It is ver y diff icult to
[quantify]… but it is definitely having an effect,” said
XL Chief Operating Officer,
Rod Rutter.
Asked whether a more
sweeping and stringent ban
could follow, he commented:
“It will come… if there is a
massive outbreak. Then it
becomes serious. At the moment, it is still under control.
“One doesn’t know what is
going to happen. Kenya Airways and others are f lying
into different parts of Africa,
and that is their prerogative.”
However, Mr. Rutter added: “Corporates are holding
back [as] perception is an issue. There is no guidance
as to whether you should or
should not go and corporates
are watching the WHO reports for updates.”
BidTravel Managing Director, Allan Lunz noted a
decline in corporate travel:
“We are not saying anything
to our corporate clients [to
stop travel]; they are responsible enough.
“You are going to f ind
some will go, if they have to
business-wise, but most will
not.
“ T he re a re more t h a n
1,100 people that have been
affected… Anybody can get
TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
this and no one is going to go
looking for trouble unnecessarily. “Travel to that region will
certainly subside until the
green light is given that it is
pretty safe to go,” he said.
In its last available update,
the Department of Health
said South African citizens
would still be permitted to
travel but need to obtain
permission from an international task team established
by the department, and face
stringent screening and questioning at international immigration checkpoints.
DATES ANNOUNCED FOR 2014
TRAVEL INDUSTRY CHARITY EVENT
enews updates
ORGANISERS of the annual Cape Town Travel Industry
Charity Event, now in its tenth year, have appealed for suptir.co.za/enews
port for this year’s fundraiser, themed ‘TICE making a difference’ to mark the special anniversary. The event will be held on October 11 at the Cape Town
International Convention Centre. This year’s recipient is non-profit organisation Molo Songololo. Individual seats are from R600 pp. Tables of 10 available. To book: tice.cpt@gmail.com or
contact Cynthia or Larry on 021 551 5500.
THE TRAVEL CORPORATION REMEMBERS FORMER TRAFALGAR MD
THE Travel Corporation has paid tribute to former Managing Director, Gawie Roussouw, following his death last month. Mr. Roussouw spent 22 years with the company, primarily responsible
for the development of Trafalgar Tours, its flagship brand, in South Africa. Mr. Roussouw is
survived by his life partner, Marna Grobbelaar and their families. “Anything he committed to
doing or when he said something, you could take it to the bank. He beat every budget he ever
presented to us,” recalled Stanley Tollman, The Travel Corporation Chairman. “[He] always presented himself meticulously and spoke in a well-mannered, elegant manner.”
Theresa Szejwallo, Trafalgar’s current Managing Director, who also worked with Mr. Roussouw
for many years, said: “He was a true gentleman and highly respected throughout the industry.”
Subscribe to receive TIR 360° e-news weekly: dominic@tir.co.za
2
Seven more staff members from across the Club Travel
group have been named Exceptional Employees. Nominated by Lindi Drummond of LTJ Travel, they each
received a gift certificate and day off in which to spend
it. The winners are: Jo Fraser; Jean Thomas; Michelle
Hogg; Shireen Naude; Nqabakazi Simelela and (pictured above, l to r): Natasha Pottier; Nicolene van Blerk;
Pat Manyonta and Deidre Fourie.
Howeve r, t he D e pa r tment of Health has appealed
to South Africans to delay
travel.
A British health expert on
communicable diseases said
late last month that he expected the outbreak to last
at least six months and it
was being exacerbated by
the poor sanitary conditions,
medical facilities and lack of
training of medical staff in
the West African countries.
FlySafair adds
George to new
launch line-up
LOCAL low-cost airline,
FlySafair, will int roduce
scheduled services between
Cape Town and George from
November 13. It is the third
route for the new carrier,
which starts operations in
October.
FlySafair will launch on
October 16 with up to four
flights per day between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Services between Cape Town
and Port Elizabeth begin October 31.
The carrier’s pricing strategy is to charge a base rate,
which would secure a seat on
the flight and allow for two
pieces of free carry-on luggage weighing no more than
seven kgs in total.
News Digest
DHA implements
new emergency
travel procedure
EFFECTIVE this month, the
Department of Home Affairs
will no longer issue temporary passports but plans
to provide new emergency
travel certificates where required. The department said
new documentation would
be issued on the same day as
application. Travellers may apply for
emergency travel cer tif icates in the event a passport
is lost during travel. They
will also be granted to assist
family members who need to
travel to countries which accept ETCs in order to enable
travel for families in distress
or in the event that a family
member has died, Home Affairs advised.
The Department claims
the interim travel document
was redundant as turnaround
times for passports had been
improved to 24 days or 13
days when applicants used
the DHA’s Live Capture system.
Briefly.
T
he Kenyan government has put
on hold its planned
new visa policy for
South African passport holders, which
was originally due
to apply from September 1. The High
Commission said
an update would
be provided once
talks between the
two countries were
concluded.
International travel operators warn of massive drop
in inbound tourism numbers due to visa regulations
continued from page 1
locally and abroad. In preparation, travel intermediaries and suppliers
have advised customers to
apply for unabridged birth
certificates ahead of any trip
depar ting this month but
ending in October, and well
ahead of the December/January peak outbound South
African holiday period due
to unpredictable turnaround
times for documentation. Airlines are warning passengers that, without the
necessary paperwork, they
would be denied boarding.
The airline sector has predicted a downturn in international arrivals owing to the
new rules, sparking concern
over the impact on direct
airline services into South
Africa, which could be jeopardised if passenger volumes
drop by the extent predicted.
Airlines lodge
new appeal for talks
A joint, written appeal by
20 international and regional airlines to Home Affairs
last month to halt pending
changes claimed losses in
tourism revenue could reach
R10-billion a year, even more
than the region’s Board of
Airline Representatives had
originally forecast. Speaking for the group,
Regional Manager for the
Middle East and Africa at
Virgin Atlantic Air ways,
Simon Newton-Smith, said
there had been too many
“missed opportunities” to
engage with the tourism sector, despite Home Affairs’
insistence that its doors were
open for dialogue. The group’s growing concern was echoed by Western
Cape Minister of Economic
Opportunities, Alan Winde,
who suggested an international offselling by overseas
operators could rapidly follow implementation of the
new rules. Mr. Winde appealed for
urgent inter vention f rom
government last month after
concerned hoteliers, travel
agents and tour operators
shared warnings from clients
gaba’s visa regulations will
cut Chinese travel to South
Africa by 70 percent.
“Reports suggest that Chinese travel agencies are already diverting clients away
from South Africa and that
key agencies have stopped
marketing our destination.
This is a market which has
shown a 55 percent growth in
visitor numbers to South Africa since 2009,” he charged. A r r ivals f rom South
American markets, includ-
the documents.
“This is a problem that
will be faced in all nonspeaking English markets
[and] will hit us hard,” said
Mr. Winde. Home Affairs has, however, indicated its intention
is to accept alternative, locally issued equivalent documents, which do not need to
be translated, but contain the
required information.
The concession was announced after a meeting be-
“Reports suggest that Chinese travel agencies are
already diverting clients away from South Africa
and that key agencies have stopped marketing
our destination. This is a market which has shown
a 55 percent growth in visitor numbers to South
Africa since 2009.” – Alan Winde, Western Cape
Minister of Economic Opportunities
in several countries that they
should “brace for a halt in
business” on October 1.
Gigaba’s visa regulations will cut Chinese
travel to South Africa
by 70 percent
“Early indications are that
the new visa reg ulations
will do significant damage
to tourism numbers from
South Africa’s traditional
and emerging markets.
“It is also predicted that
South Africa’s international
meetings economy will take
a massive knock. Organisers avoid destinations which
incur additional costs for delegates, such as for biometrics,” he warned.
Mr. Winde predicted: “Gi-
ing Brazil and Argentina,
both key emerging markets
for South African Tourism,
would also be hit, Mr. Winde
warned.
“Sout h A mer ica is a n
important emerging source
market. In 2012, South Africa welcomes close to 80,000
tourists from Brazil, up from
just over 32,000 in 2009. “Tour operators in South
America have explained that
their countries also have
strict processes when travelling with children. Parents have to produce all the
necessar y documentation
including birth certificates.
However, the cost of translating the birth certificate into
English in these countries is
just over R1,000. In addition,
it takes about two weeks in
these countries to translate
tween Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba and
Tourism Minister, Derek
Hanekom at the end of July. The two met to discuss
and address “unintended
consequences” of the new
legislation.
Both departments were
confident that the phasing
in of biometric data collection capacity at ports of entry could lead to the phasing out of transit visas and
conceded that the in-person
visa application requirement
could mean the number of
visa facilitation centres “as
and when required to do so”
would need to be increased.
T he Tou r ism Mi nist r y
will assist in determining
which countries required a
larger visa processing and
biometric data capturing ca-
pability, they said. But the developments have
fuelled criticism over South
Africa’s readiness and ability
to implement its own policy. Mr. Newton-Smith, on behalf of his counterparts in the
region, challenged: “Home
Affairs all but admitted that
it is not prepared for and
had not considered the consequences… adding further
weight to a travel industry
call for a twelve month postponement to some of the new
laws. Furthermore, based on
recent public statements by
Jackie McKay, DDG Immigration Services, it is clear
that the ‘international benchmarking’ behind some of the
new requirements is based
dangerously on inaccurate
information.
“ T he De pa r t ment of
Home Affairs is clearly confused and trying to address
the right problems with the
wrong solutions or the right
solutions at the wrong time…
“The global travel community want to help South
Africa avoid a tourism, PR,
economic and political disaster, but the DHA seems
intent on that course. Dear
Mr. Gigaba and Mr. McKay,
please help us help you,” said
Mr. Newton-Smith.
T h e E u r o p e a n Tr avel
Agents’ and Tour Operators Associations and World
Travel Agents Associations
Alliance have also called on
the government to reconsider
its position and repeal the
new rules. They also recommended that the government
investigate a best global approach to tackling child trafficking in travel, for fear of
the impact on South Africa’s
saleability.
KQ names more Dreamliner routes
KENYA Airways has introduced Boeing 787 services
on its routes to Bangkok and
Hong Kong as additional new
aircraft enter service. The carrier took delivery
of its third Dreamliner last
month. Three more are ex-
4
TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
pected to enter service before
the end of this year.
Johannesburg became the
second KQ destination after
Paris to feature the 787 in
July. Chief Operating Officer
Mbuvi Ngunza has indicated
a new Nairobi – Cape Town
route is currently under consideration.
“This makes sense from
a tourism point of view, and
we already have sales representation in Cape Town,” he
said.
News Digest
Overhaul of foreign arrival counts... continued from page 1
sation was still operating in a
“very challenging environment”,
with many markets where it has
a presence still trying to recover
from the global financial crisis:
“While the recovery is happening, it is very slow in many markets, with disposable income limited and even shrinking in some
markets where governments have
introduced austerity measures,”
he remarked.
SA Tourism has also reviewed
its portfolio of strategic markets,
where it has a presence or spends
its marketing budget, for the next
three years.
Core markets in Africa are
Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria,
Kenya, Tanzania and South African domestic travellers.
Investment markets in Africa
include Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana,
Lesotho, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In the Americas region, Brazil
has now been identified as a core
market, with Canada identified
as an investment market and Argentina as a ‘watch-list’ market.
SA Tourism plans to open a new
office in Brazil this month.
In the Asia/Australasia region,
China has joined India and Australia as core markets, with Japan
and South Korea declared investment markets. In Europe, France, Germany,
the Netherlands and the UK remain core markets, with Italy
and Russia listed as investment
markets. Marketing activities in non
core markets, such as Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Columbia, will be served by SAT’s
Brazil office. SAT will develop
Japan, South Korea, Indonesia,
Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia
through its office in China. New offices in Nigeria, to be
followed by Angola and Kenya,
will be responsible for more regional growth.
Mr. Nzima added that although
the weakening of the rand had
been a positive development for
inbound tourism, it had eroded
SAT’s marketing budget in many
markets and by as much as 30
percent. SAT is also looking to offset
a downturn in domestic tourism
arrivals, which slid by approximately 500,000 visits compared
to the previous financial year.
Although a fairly significant
shift in SAT’s mandate, primarily responsible for growing brand
South Africa in foreign markets,
SAT is targeting 18-million domestic tourists by 2020.
Other key objectives are to
grow tourism’s contribution to
the economy by 1.5 percent per
annum and to increase foreign
arrivals to 15-million by 2020, to
sell South Africa as a business
events destination, and continue
to provide quality assurance for
tourism products.
Briefly.
T
he Cit y of Cape Town
has renewed its partnership with Cape Town Tourism for a further three years,
targeting increased arrivals
from African states as well
as other new international
markets. It also hopes to address seasonality issues and
to secure additional funding
from the private sector.
The Travel Corporation’s Cheese for Charity fundraising initiative has raised more than R10,000 for the
Robin Good Initiative Vegitunnel Project. Pictured (above) at the benefit, hosted last month, TTC National
Sales Manager, Lara May with Kosie Nagel, Land Warehouse Leader for Flight Centre South Africa, who won
a bottle of wine for his winning paper plane design.
Fastjet boosts
frequencies
FASTJET will increase frequencies between Dar es Salaam and
Harare, to three per week from
the end of September, after reporting heavy demand for the
new service. The airline’s first flights were
a sell-out, said Chief Executive
Officer, Ed Winter. “Fastjet has
responded to requests from Zimbabweans and Tanzanians asking
for a direct route connecting these
two cities with affordable, reliable flights… With future bookings also looking strong, we’ve
decided to add a third rotation
each Thursday,” he said.
“Until now, travellers had to
depend on lengthy road transportation or have been excluded from
air travel by the significant cost of
flying an indirect route...” T he Zi mbabwea n gove r nment has said it would like to see
fastjet’s presence in the country
expanded. TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
5
COMMENT
Hospitality is the philosophy for success
WHETHER it is a hotel, an
airline, a cruise line, a car
rental company or any supplier with direct contact with
the customer and providing
a product, it is in the service
business.
So, despite the wide range
of different product categories and the standard or star
rating of each of the products, customer service and
competitiveness are crucial.
No customer expects the
same benefits in a one-star
product as a five-star. But
customer service, driven by
training, attitude, company
culture and management, is
what separates the good from
www.tir.co.za
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
John Wardall
MANAGING EDITOR
Sarah Cornwell
Tel: 021 789 0053
Mob: 072 772 2189
sarah@tir.co.za
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Dominic Wardall
CONTRIBUTORS
Richard Holmes
Lisa Witepski
Melany Bendix
In a challenging financial year, travel agents are concentrating on value products and stepped-up customer service. This month, TIR asks leisure retail specialist Pentravel
how agents and their customers are responding and how
consultants can overcome pricing challenges. Chief Executive Officer, Sean Hough, weighs in…
Andrew Watson
Tel: 021 685 8772
Mob: 071 677 3858
andrew@tir.co.za
Which segments of the
market are performing
well?
CIRCULATION
travgaz@iafrica.com
“We are a leisure only company and, for us, Mauritius
has been selling like hotcakes! South Africa is also
performing very well, while
Europe sales have been challenging. Cruising is also popular and any fully-inclusive
product, but coach sales have
been under pressure.”
ACCOUNTS
Beverley Gough
Brenda Smith
ADMINISTRATION
Nerina Nicholson
Europe:
Colin Murdoch
Thailand:
World Media Co.
Malaysia:
Raffles Int. Media
PRINTING
Formeset Printers
©TTG Southern Africa
2014
Published by:
TTG Southern Africa CC
Reg no:
1995/030913/23
What has stimulated
demand?
“I think what is really driving Pentravel’s results is excellent customer service. We
are a much smaller business
and, therefore, not a reliable
indication of general economic trends. But profits are
up 26 percent in the last nine
months of our current financial year (to June) and 588
percent over the past four
years. Those figures have
been achieved despite a constantly challenging environment. “As we said a long time
ago, we are not participating in any recession, rather
focusing on our own business, our own customers
and our customer service.
I believe, really, that was
the right strategy. We have
avoided the recession word
and become obsessed about
relationships with our clients.
Travel is no longer about selling products.”
Air fares continue to
rise. What impact has
this had on booking
trends and product
appeal?
“ We h a ve n’t s e e n a n ything significant to indicate
that airfares have risen, nothing to cause us a concern
and, in fact, we are still getting ad hoc seat sales… In
our recent ads, London exD u rba n wa s R8,190 a nd
Mauritius ex-Johannesburg
was R5,670. With Emirates
adding a seventh daily flight
from October, it is bound to
make an impact in the market and probable advantages
with lower fares.”
GOOD
follow us on twitter
THE
twitter.com/TIR_SA
The industry could not be more united in its
coordinated opposition to the incomprehensible new immigration regulations – incomprehensible to everybody except Home
Affairs, that is. The ability and willingness
by all industry bodies to work together have
been impressive.
6
late that culture into other
countries but it certainly provides a template for the ideal
in service attitudes.
The practicality of reward
in a business environment
obviously trumps the philosophical ideal but it is both
the attitude and the delivery
of service which has the most
impact on customers.
I n Sout h A f r ica , w it h
many notable exceptions, we
often fall down on the product and delivery of service,
even though the attitude may
be perfectly acceptable. It
is almost always a failure of
management and training.
In the United States, as a
clear example of the opposite
end of the issue, the product
and delivery of service, even
at the lowest economy end
of the range, is usually very
good. But the attitude and,
particularly, the aggressive
attitude towards tipping – the
expectation of reward – can
be very off-putting to foreign
visitors.
It all comes down to that
word hospitality, the byword
for every sector of the industry, and one which should be
at the forefront of the minds
of management and employees in creating the ideal environment and experience for
their customers.
Travel is no longer about selling products
ADVERTISING
Dominic Wardall
Tel: 021 789 0053
Mob: 082 620 6425
dominic@tir.co.za
REPRESENTATION
UK:
MW Media
info@mwmedia.uk.com
It is often a cultural thing,
where service can sometimes
be seen as demeaning, and
requires consistent training
and management to address.
We could all take a lesson
from the Japanese, who have
it taped with their philosophy
of omotenashi.
It is almost an art of anticipating what a guest would
like and providing an environment and service without
any expectation or desire for
reward. That is why tipping is
offensive in Japan and guests
who ask for things directly
are considered ill-bred and
bad mannered.
It is very difficult to trans-
Industry View
PUBLISHER
John Wardall
HEAD OFFICE
9 Ruby Terrace
Noordhoek
Cape Town
PO Box 745
Noordhoek, 7979
Tel: 021 789 0053
the bad or merely indifferent
which, in this industry, is almost as bad.
To sum it up in one word, it
is the philosophy of hospitality, which should define this
entire industry.
Ideally, checking in for a
flight or a car rental should
be a similarly pleasant and
st ress-f ree experience as
checking into a hotel. And
there is no reason why the
one-star check-in should be
any less welcoming and hospitable than the five-star. In
fact, the personal attention is
often better at the lower end,
a clear reflection on management.
TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
What are you
concentrating on now?
“We always felt 2014 would
be a strong year for fully inclusive and destinations like
Thailand – and we were correct. Cruising has also held
its own.”
What do you do in
difficult times to
maintain demand?
“Relationships, relationships,
relationships… We will keep
focusing on customer service
and relationships.”
And to build new
business?
“Repeat bookings are very
high but we have also had a
very serious referral strategy
this year, which has generated an incredible amount of
new business…”
THE
CONGRATULATIONS to our latest Spotted with
TIR competition winner, Gaynor Neill, GM of
Cruise Vacations, the lucky winner of a
stylish American Tourister San Francisco
66cm Spinner suitcase, valued at R1,199!
Gaynor was spotted at the helm
of the Star Flyer in the Balearics.
Explore new horizons with
American Tourister. With
American Tourister, travellers
can enjoy stylish, high-quality
luggage without dipping into
their spending money.
With its own distinctive design
and a young, casual look, the
American Tourister San Francisco
is ideal for both corporate and
leisure travellers. The range is available in grey,
blue and red.
Ultra practical features include a large U-shaped
front pocket, translucent piping corner
protection, a comfortable integrated top handle,
a stitched bumper for base protection and
lockable zippers on the main compartment and
front pocket. Suitcases are also fitted with large
inner mesh zipper pockets and two webbing
packing straps with a buckle closure. The American Tourister San Francisco is available
from top luggage outlets.
For stockists, call 031 266 0620.
BAD
Having made a completely uninformed
stuff-up of new immigration and child travel
requirements, clearly lacking an understanding of the implications, new Home Affairs
Minister, Malusi Gigaba, has stubbornly dug
in his heels. Loss of face is clearly more important than economic consequences.
THE
UGLY
Ebola in West Africa has airlines and immigration authorities on alert. If it spreads to
other parts of the world, not only health but
also national economies will suffer. Hopefully nothing like the plague in Europe, which
started in the 1500s, lasted 400 years, and
wiped out a third of the population!
News Digest
VisitEngland forecasts big SA
numbers for 2015 World Cup
BY SARAH CORNWELL
ENGLAND’S national tourist board, VisitEngland is anticipating a boost in South
African arrivals next year,
when the Rugby World Cup
k ick s of f i n Se pt e mb e r.
Matches will be staged at 13
venues across England and
Wales, with the tournament
concluding on October 31. Affiliate tourist authority,
VisitBritain withdrew from
South Africa in 2011 as part
of a major cost-cutting drive
but is considered a key target
market for next year’s tournament.
In the country for a brief
sales visit last month, Visit E ng l a nd Ru gby World
Cup Project Director, Jeremy Brinkworth, remarked:
“South Africa is still firmly
on the radar...”
Visitors and supporters “in
their thousands” are expect-
Briefly.
F
lySafair passengers can now
book First Car Rental inventory via the
airline’s website. The
agreement is one
of the first partnerships for the carrier,
set to launch its first
domestic operation
in October.
ed to travel to the UK during the six week period, with
France, Italy and Ireland also
identified as major contributing international markets.
“The expectation is that
this will be the biggest World
Cup… We are particularly
excited about the number of
venues: ten host cities, plus
Cardiff. The tournament will
also take place at the right
time for us; not in the middle of our high season. There
may be the thought that London will be full, but that will
not be the case,” Mr. Brinkworth added.
Other long-haul markets
being targeted include Australia, New Zealand and the
US.
“Overall, they will be selling over two-million tickets,
targeting between 400- and
500,000 visitors from overseas. Those are pretty big
numbers,” he added.
Ticket packages are on
s a l e n ow t h r o u g h of f i cial travel partners, which
include South Africa (SA)
Rugby Travel, a division of
Tourvest, working in partnership with the South African Rugby Union, said Mr.
Brinkworth. A public ballot
system will open online this
month.
An online agent training
program me for overseas,
English-speaking markets,
featuring suggested itineraries and destination guides, is
in development. “T here a re suppor ter s
tours and packages already
on the market… You cannot
just f ly in and get tickets,”
Mr. Brinkworth stressed.
“The Springboks are playing all over England and
there is plenty of time and
opportunity for visitors to
see the rest of the country
between games,” he said.
BA adds WTM trade fares
BRITISH Airways is providing 30 percent discounts
on published fares to travel
agents and trade partners
planning to attend the World
Travel Market in London in
November. Bookings are open until
November 2 for travel between October 30 and November 5, returning between
November 2 and November
30. Valid for Club World,
World Traveller Plus and
World Traveller fares.
Travel agents should apply
on an IATA 880 form, while
other trade partners should
submit requests on company
letterhead, stating that travel
is for WTM. Written requests
should be directed to British
Airways’ commercial support office.
New Product
Trafalgar’s new 2015 Asia programme features three new
itineraries and Cambodia extension tours. Destinations
include Japan, China, Thailand and Vietnam with more extensions available to Hong Kong and Singapore. Early payment savings of 10 percent per couple apply for bookings
paid before November 27. Frequent traveller discounts of
five percent are also valid.
Singapore Airlines will operate seasonal services to Sapporo in Japan between
December 1, 2014 and January 17, 2015. Flights will operate twice weekly into
the capital of Hokkaido, a ski and snow sports destination.
G Adventures will recommence tours to Haiti next year, with five departures
set to operate from February 2015. The operators’ full programme will now
be priced at a fixed South African rand rate. To promote the new rates, all new
bookings confirmed before September 30 will be eligible for savings of 15 percent. Contact Development Promotions. Wilderness Safaris has opened its new Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp in Namibia. The new low-impact facility is situated in the private Palmwag Concession
between the Palmwag area and the Skeleton Coast National Park.
Curious Traveller is promoting new Lapland Finland itineraries, with departures
tailored for families and also geared for incentives groups. Highlights include expeditions to track the aurora borealis on both husky-drawn sled rides (pictured
above) and snowmobiles, an overnight stay at the Laino Snow Village (from
late January to March, when the hotel is rebuilt each year) reindeer-drawn
sleigh rides and a visit to the Santa Clause village. Six nights from R29,296 pps/
R20,025 for children aged four to 14, valid for travel December 12 – 18, 2014
and including all meals. Additional departures on a private basis and incentive
groups recommended January – March. LUX* Resorts & Hotels’ new China resort, the LUX* Lijiang, opens this month.
News Digest
ON THE
spot
Flyafrica plans rapid regional route expansion through affiliate strategy
THE Zimbabwe market is poised for growth with new regional carrier, flyafrica, plotting
new routes and additional frequencies into South Africa. Other intra-African flights will
be added as new affiliate operations are launched, explained Group Chief Executive
Officer, Adrian Hamilton-Manns, who walked TIR’s Sarah Cornwell through the
airline’s syndication and growth strategy, a plan, Mr. Hamilton revealed, has been
years in the making…
and Victoria Falls. But the next thing we will be doing is connecting to another member of the flyafrica.com family.”
Who will steer those new sister operations?
“… If we launched ‘flyafrica.com Botswana’ for example,
there would be a CEO and [outside] investment. We would
be the minority investor and provide marketing support.”
Adrian Hamilton-Manns
Johannesburg – Vic Falls is flyafrica’s launch route
but what is the next step? New routes, additional
frequencies or another base?
“Everything! We haven’t quite figured out the timing but
have five aircraft that we have purchased. Those will be assigned to Zimbabwe, the first of the flyafrica.com family we
have launched. [Flyafrica.com] will be a marketing brand,
used by each of the operating entities… owned by different
businesses in different countries. What we are going to give
is a consistent product.
“… I moved to South Africa and have been working on this
project full time since 2010 [but] have had this dream for 10
years. We also have a project office in Zimbabwe and have
another group planning for airline number two and three.”
Why Zimbabwe and why is the timing right?
“Africa can only expand and develop through air transport.
Existing providers are constraining growth through high
fares… Africa is honestly the last frontier for airlines. There
are low-cost carriers on every other continent, except Antarctica, and they have grown the travel market and stimulated economies. We are here to address that.
“We wish to establish a heavy presence in Africa but do
not wish to be in South Africa at this stage. Zimbabwe has a
large number of tourist attractions, a population that needs
to travel, a business base, beautiful game lodges, all the safari [services] tourists want. And, for the last two years, the
country has been on a major tourism development drive,
which plays to our strengths.”
What about additional routes and/or frequencies
if a domestic operation in South Africa isn’t on the
cards yet?
“Beginning September, there will be fourth weekly flight
(Johannesburg – Victoria Falls) because of demand… After
that, we will be developing routes from Zimbabwe into Johannesburg and other points in South Africa.
“Our business model is to develop new routes and stimulate demand… We would love to be in Cape Town and it is a
route we are looking at for the Christmas period…
“We will also be connecting Zimbabwe with its neighbours and adding multiple destinations out of both Harare
8
TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
And your distribution model? Will flyafrica be
working with travel agents via the GDS?
“We are displayed in the GDS through an agreement with
Hahn… GDS fees are traditionally ridiculously high and,
regrettably, they will not lower the cost of participation and
cost of a booking. “If we are selling a ten dollar fare, [GDS companies] want
eight dollars for booking it… As a low-cost airline, we pass
through the cost [so] if a passenger wishes to book through
a GDS, a segment fee of approximately R30 per segment
would apply. Travel agents can also book via the flyafrica.
com website [with] access to even lower fares…”
TravelPeople’s next ‘Experience the Diary
Best of…’ workshop will be held in Cape Town
on September 11. Exhibitors include the Cape
Whale Coast; Tulbagh & Ceres (Witzenberg
Municipality); Northern Cape; Fancourt;
Mantis Collection and the Radisson Blu Le
Vendome Hotel.
To register: www.travelpeople.co.za
are allowing – for a nominal fee – people to make edits to
names. It is not for a complete name change but if you misspell a person’s name, you can actually change characters
in the name… For agents who book our GDS fares, which
are of a higher value, all those GDS bookings are refundable
if we can’t fly you. We also invite travel agents to mark up
the fare with a service fee… I have always held the view that
agents should build up their own business and we encourage them to charge a service fee. We believe in full transparency and will not hide [those charges].”
What potential do you see for new low-cost
services in South Africa?
What other payment options are available?
“Of course there is potential but [a new player] would have
to be focused on their core business… flying people from
point A to point B.
“There is growth in demand and there are only two players in South Africa at the moment. Well, four brands but
two players, so yes, I believe there is potential for more and
there are several people looking and trying. “It is a hostile environment and difficult but, if a company
has the correct business plan, they could do well.”
“We have multiple payment channels. One of the things
that frustrates me is airlines make it very difficult for passengers to give them money. We have fraud protection
systems… and also allow people to purchase now and pay
later… We have also started to engage with other [service
providers] such as Edgars.”
There are very high fares in Africa, for travel
between countries. What is the reason for that
and how do you see that reducing over time in
order to grow the market?
And flyafrica’s ancillary services?
“We believe you should pay for what you want, not what
you don’t want. From priority boarding and check-in to
lounge access and baggage… I think we have about 18 ancillary options to customise your booking. We also have business class seats on the aircraft and, with that, it is lounge
access, food onboard, priority baggage and more room with
a wider seat.”
But no fuel surcharge?
“We hate fuel surcharges! They are used by airlines to mask
what they charge passengers… Customers and, disturbingly,
travel agents believe that is a government charge… but it
is not. Taxes in South Africa are no more expensive than
Asia… but one of the things [raising fare prices] is the fuel
surcharge. The price you see on flyafrica.com is the price
you pay…”
Are fares commissionable?
“No, we don not pay commission. However, if you use the
agency deposit scheme, we pay five percent on the amount
deposited with us. Those funds go into an account, or trust,
so that the money is protected. The other thing is that we
“We have a ‘dare to compare’ feature on our website to
[show disparity] but, overall, the view for many decades has
been that people who can afford to fly in Africa can afford
to pay… Africa is used almost like a money box for a number
of airlines… to subsidise losses in other parts of their business. There are airlines that make a lot of money in Africa
and then lose it flying long haul. “The second reason is, airlines generally don’t have an
incentive to offer you low fares unless there is competition… Why, if you are full, would you lower fares? Why do
airlines charge so much? The answer is: because they can.
[Competition from] people like fastjet and ourselves is what
will lower fares.”
Is there room for government in an airline and
what challenge does protectionism pose?
“Is there room? Yes, and I can think of several airlines that
are government-owned and that are immensely successful:
Emirates, Air New Zealand and, in Africa, Ethiopian is government owned and is a very, very well run and profitable
airline… It is unfortunately when you have guys that do not
know where the boundaries are that you have issues. “… Protectionism is an issue. In a perfect world, we would
have one airline and be everywhere we want to be – but
then Asia is no different. Air Asia had to open six airlines to
cover Asia effectively.”
News Digest
New multiple-entry visa to boost
cruise business in the Gulf
BY SARAH CORNWELL
A MULTIPLE-ENTRY cruise
visa for Gulf Cooperation Council member countries, under discussion for the past several years,
is being prepared for implementation.
The new policy, which took
effect on August 1, will alleviate
inconvenience and cost implications for tourists making multiple
stops, whether by air, land or sea.
The shift in policy will also make
provision for medical tourists and
their companions.
Permits for cruise passengers
will cost in the region of 200 dirhams.
The present one-entry visa, involving extensive paperwork and
extra fees, though considered an
obstacle to tourism, has not diminished the growth in the number of cruise ships calling in the
region.
“This visa option will make it
logistically easier and more cost
effective for passengers on cruises to make multiple stops at the
various ports of call on cruises in
and around the UAE,” remarked
Comair Travel Product Manager,
Megan D’Arcy.
“At this stage, details are still
not clear regarding the visa application process, but we are sure
these details will be sorted out
soon and will encourage sales on
upcoming Gulf cruise itineraries.”
“Cruise tourism is an essential
and growing part of the tourism
economy in Dubai and also for
other regional destinations in the
Arabian Gulf. With Dubai being
the only home port in the region
for cruise tourism, we recognise
the advantage of simplifying visa
procedures and, where possible,
in reducing costs for passengers,
thereby further boosting the sector’s growth,” added Wendie
White, Director of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing for Southern
Africa.
“Visitors can now arrive at
Dubai International Airport or
Dubai World Cent ral, take a
cruise from Mina Rashid out to
other emirates and neighbouring
countries and return to Dubai on
the same visa,” added Executive
Director, Hamad bin Mejren.
Consultants from Club
Travel visited Réunion
on a recent educational.
Pictured with supporting
suppliers at the Pinton
de la Fournaise volcano, (back, l to r): Glen Taylor,
Island Light Holidays; Jeremia Brown, Gold Travel; Riaan Goosen, Club
Travel Zoolake; Marijana
Cizek, Sirius Travel; Lizette Basson, Air Austral;
Taryn Brink, Flightsite;
Deborah Magrath, Club
Travel Product Department; Reason Mulaudzi, Travel Xcellence with
(front): Azraa Gaffoor, Indaba Travel; Tatum Alexander, Club Travel Marketing; Suska Liebenberg, Just Holidays and Carla Nichols, Club Travel Edgemead.
Briefly.
H
oliday Tours has a
three-nights package for Atlantis, The
Palm which includes
flights, taxes, transfers,
breakfast, plus a tourist visa for UAE. From
R15,999 pps, valid until
26 September.
SA visa-free travel
expands marginally
SOUTH Africa has moved up one
spot in the 2014 global Henley &
Partners Visa Restrictions Index,
produced in partnership with the
International Air Transport Association. The annual report ranks
countries based on the freedom
of travel enjoyed by their citizens.
This year, South Africa was
ranked 41 in the world, with the
number of visa-free destinations
open to South African citizens at
97, up three from its 2013 ranking.
At the top of the rankings, Finland, Sweden and the UK have
been joined by Germany and the
US, with those countries free to
travel visa-free to 174 destinations. T he bot tom fou r spots remained the same as in 2013: Pakistan; Somalia; Iraq and Afghanistan. The full report is available
from henleyglobal.com.
TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
9
Demand for cruises buoyant
despite currency fluctuations
BY LISA WITEPSKI
F LUCT UAT IONS i n t he
rand's rate of exchange have
had little impact on cruise
sales in this market, with a
resulting sales growth this
year.
Cruise Vacations General
Manager, Gaynor Neill, said
although there had been a
slight dip in volumes for the
GSA’s budget product, at a
luxury level, spending had
remained constant. That pattern has also been reported
by Cruises International.
Ian Mathews, Sales and
Marketing Manager for Triton Cape Sea Travel, confirmed little impact from the
rand decline against the US
dollar. However, he noted,
products priced in pounds
had proved less resilient.
“T h is may be because
people perceive the dollar
exchange rate to be less onerous.”
Austria Connection has
also seen an increase in bookings this year, said owner,
Inge Dobihal, with forward
bookings for next year’s sailings already looking good.
At MSC Cruises, Allan
Foggitt, Director of Sales and
Marketing, said, with product priced in rands, there was
little gamble on currency and
that this meant passengers
felt comfortable planning
their holidays.
“ MSC’s lo ca l 2013/14
cr uise season grew by 30
percent and our international
revenues have grown by 69
percent, which is testament
to the value that a cruise holiday provides,” he said.
Although Tracey K rog,
Com mercial Manager atCruises International agreed
“the combination of the devaluing of the rand, as well
as the South African market straining under pressure
had impacted on business”,
believing there are opportunities in these challenging
times.
“Our cruise lines are continuously coming up with
special pricing and value
added offers, which actually
make a cruise even more attractive.” Ms. Krog added that, in
some cases, cruise lines were
also now allowing children
under age 12 to sail free,
when sharing a stateroom
with two full-paying parents, on select Europe and
Caribbean sailings; others
are offering onboard credit
promotions on certain sailings, discounted deposits and
extending option dates so clients face less financial risk.
This optimism was fuelled
by changes in distribution
patterns, such as Imagine
Holidays’ recent establishment of a concession store in
Stuttafords.
Press Off icer for MSC
Cruises South Africa, Ingrid
Roding-Tudor, echoed the
benefits of strong retail partnerships: “Specialist cruise
retailers are a huge benefit to
us.
“They are an indication of
the appeal of cruising within
the South African market.” Early booking
still best
Booking early is still the
best way to ensure passengers receive favourable rates
and a wide variety of rooms
to choose from, specialists
agree.
Cruises International reports an average lead time of
between eight and 12 months
from booking to departure.
This year, however, there
seems to be a trend towards
last minute bookings, remarked Ms. Krog, with many
passengers booking only six
months ahead of their departure date. She said this trend
should be discouraged for
several reasons: “Booking
early is the best way to protect yourself against a volatile economy. Added to this,
flights become cheaper when
booked in advance, and it is
also easier to book pre or post
cruise accommodation. Not
forgetting that it takes time
to apply for visas.”
MSC Cruises is another
proponent of early bookings.
Photo: MSC Cruises
MSC Cruises has introduced a new rates and pricing
structure for its 2015 European summer programme,
with new fare categories providing a choice of accommodation and optional onboard experiences. Inside
‘Bella’ experience packages for one of MSC’s top-selling
Northern European itineraries, visiting the Baltic Capitals and Norwegian Fjords, are currently available from
R8,329 pp. Pictured (above) the MSC Opera cruises in
Norway.
“MSC’s standard launch discount is 40 percent but we
operate a dynamic pricing
policy where the discounts
reduce as the cr uises f ill
up, so on popular dates like
weekends and school holidays this discount can reduce
quite quickly,” said Mr. Foggitt. Additional discounts are
offered to MSC Club members, senior citizens, single
parents, honeymooners and,
from time to time, Facebook
fans and past passengers.
“Late booking is certainly
not an option for river cruises, because they offer such
value and are so popular,
there are rarely any last minute cruises because they are
already fully booked. Nonetheless, an early booking discount of five percent is made
for bookings and deposit
payments received before the
end of the year.”
› See page 12 for more
ways to save.
Cruise lines ready to implement New management new immigration requirements for Cunard GSA
PASSENGERS sailing from
South African cruise ports
from October 1 and planning
to call at international ports
are being urged to ensure
they are compliant with new
immigration requirements, to
avoid being denied boarding.
In addition to Home Affairs’ demand that families
travelling with children provide unabridged birth certificates in addition to passports,
due to become effective next
month, one parent travelling
with a child or children under the age of 18 years must
10
provide a letter of consent
from the other parent in the
form of an affidavit or custody agreement confirming
permission to travel with the
child/children. Death certificates will be required if
the other parent is deceased.
Guardians travelling with
children must, in addition to
unabridged birth certificates,
provide a letter of consent/
affidavit from parents giving
permission for travel.
Travellers should also be
warned that even certified
copies may not be accepted.
TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
MSC Cr u ise s Ge ne r al
Manager, Merle Hambakis,
said the message had been
wel l c om mu n icat e d a nd
expected most passengers
would be aware of the pending changes, feeling there
was sufficient time for lastminute applications. However, she expected there may be
some difficulty in the event
a minor’s guardian or absent
parent could not be reached
to obtain written approval.
T he new requi rements
only apply to itineraries with
calls to any inter national
port, Ms. Hambakis reiterated. “The only exception
is for cr uises that do not
leave South African waters,
as in a cruise to nowhere,
MSC’s Mossel Bay cruise
and cruises from Durban to
Cape Town and vice versa.”
But Cruise Vacations General Manager, Gaynor Neill,
cautioned the new immigration regulation has implications for foreign permanent
residents living in South
Africa, too, and who are required to carry their full permanent residence certificate,
W H IT E St a r Cr uise a nd
Travel, Cunard’s GSA, will
have new management this
month when Managing Director, Carol McCarthy, retires. The company will be
run by Shaun McCarthy. He
is the owner of Sun ’n Ski
Holidays.
“The transfer has been totally seamless, and having
the same surname certainly
helped avoid any customer
confusion…,” Mr. McCarthy
said.
“This is just the right time
to take White Star forward
to meet new challenges and
pursue new markets.” New contact details can be
found online at www.whitestar.co.za.
even though it stamped in
their passports, she stressed.
“Passengers need to realise that, like visa requirements, it is the passenger’s
full responsibility to ensure
they have the correct travel
documentation. Full cancellation penalties apply and
cannot be waived should they
miss their cruise or have to
cancel,” Ms. Neill warned.
Been there, cruised that? Try Central
America, say local cruise specialists
BY RICHARD HOLMES
“The future of the web is mobile,” said Leigh-Ann Proctor (pictured above) Cruises International e-Marketing
Manager, launching the company’s new mobile-friendly versions of its consumer website and trade booking
portal, www.cruises.co.za and www.shipmates.co.za. A
mobi site has also been developed for the book.cruises.
co.za booking engine. Features on the mobile version
mirror the standard version of the site, and users are
not required to download any app. See page 13 for
more Sales Resources.
Sell These: South & Central America
Regent Seven Seas’ Seven Seas Mariner sails from
Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro with two stops in Uruguay, an 11-night voyage, departing March 22, 2015.
Regent’s fares are fully-inclusive – and this extends
to a free one-night pre-cruise luxury hotel stay in
concierge suites and higher. Fares from US$4,999 pp.
Silversea Cruises calls at Colombia, Panama, Costa
Rica, Guatemala and Mexico. The seven-day sailing on
Silver Cloud departs from Fort Lauderdale.
Carnival has an array of cruises to Central America,
departing from Los Angeles and Miami. For families,
the three- to four-day sailings to Mexico are especially
popular, calling at Ensenada, Catalina Island and Cabo
San Lucas.
continued on page 12
LONG-HAUL cruise holidays are a big-seller in the
local market but, for the avid
cruiser, South and Central
America provide a different experience – the warm
weather of the Caribbean,
the history of Europe and the
flavours of Asia.
Although the region from
Panama to Guatemala and up
into Mexico is still a niche
destination for local travellers, it is growing in popularity with those who have been
there, done that.
Puntarenas in Costa Rica
is in close proximity to the
Arenal Volcano and the cloud
forests at Villa Blanca, while
at Puerto Limon the Tortuguero National Park offers
animal encounters as well as
a visit to the Braulio Carillo
National Park’s aerial tramway.
On the west coast of Guatemala, Puerto Quetzal allows for visit to the colonial
city of Antigua, designated
a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. In Mexico, Cozumel,
Costa Maya and Cabo San
Lucas are popular stops for
larger cruise ships.
However, repeat cruisers
may want to consider opting
for a smaller ship that can
venture off the beaten track.
“The region is well served
by major cruise lines; however Silversea is able to gain
access to some of the lessvisited ports that bigger ships
cannot enter. This gives clients a unique opportunity to
experience destinations that
aren’t crammed with visitors,
and still have their historical
integrity intact,” said Gaynor
Neill, General Manager of
Cruise Vacations. Highlights
include “the cloud forests of
Costa Rica, the primal Maya
ruins of Guatemala, the marine wonderland of the Mexican Riviera, as well as the
engineering feat of the 20thcentury; the Panama Canal
transit”.
“The Panama Canal would
be the biggest highlight in
Central America,” agreed
Tracey Krog, Commercial
Manager for Cruises International. “Most cruise lines
offer voyages through the
canal, whether it is part of a
repositioning cruise or part
of a Grand Voyage.”
Silversea’s seven-day sailing on Silver Cloud from
Fort Lauderdale calls at
Key West, Belize City, Costa Maya and Cozumel before returning to Florida.
“Traversing the 40-mile
Panama Canal with Norwegian Cruise Line is the adventure of a lifetime,” agreed
Ian Mathews, Sales and Marketing Manager for Triton
Cape Sea Travel. “Add in
compelling ports like Cartagena, Puerto Quetzel or Puntarenas… [it is] a memorable
journey.”
Along with the large companies, there is a handful of
specialist operators such as
Un-Cruise Adventures which
offer theme departures with
Birding, Kids in Nature, Marine Biology and Photography cruises planned for early
2015.
For a taste of life under
sail, Star Clippers offers sailings that visit ports in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
Cuba and Colombia on Star
Flyer.
“Most sailings are seven
nights, but can vary between
five and 14 nights,” said Ms.
Neill. “Star Flyer’s comprehensive itineraries will ensure guests have access to
both major and lesser-known
national parks, of which
many are remote islands and
bays inaccessible to tourists
visiting by land.”
Fo r a g r a n d voy a ge
through the Canal, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines has a South
America cruise in January
2015 for 69 nights from the
United Kingdom via Rio de
Janeiro, Ushuaia, Valparaiso
and the Panama Canal.
“This cr uise is popular
too, but it is longer cruising,”
added Mr. Matthews..
While the region is not as
heavily-trafficked as the Caribbean or Mediterranean, the
coastline “is very well served
by most cruise lines, usually
continued on page 12
Save by second guessing rand
fluctuations with early payments
How to get the best price – and bang – for your client’s buck without a rand price guarantee
BY MELANY BENDIX
IF there is one trend for the
2014/2015 cruise season, experts agree it is that the majority of clients are hell-bent
on getting the best deal; and
that is across all levels, from
the budget barge to the blue
chip cruise.
And the best deal does not
always equate to the lowest
price, noted Tracey Krog,
Cruises International Commercial Manager, “South Africans are looking for bang
for their buck too”.
That means it is not as
straightforward as searching
for the lowest price, as the
best face value fare may not
always be the best all-round
deal. “Many cruise lines do
not lower the cruise fare but
offer value add-ons instead,
such as onboard credit, free
upgrades and free dining in
speciality restaurants,” explained Ian Mathews, Sales
and Marketing Manager for
Triton Cape Sea Travel.
Finding the best all-round
deal can be tricky; it entails
keeping an eye on exchange
rates, fares and special offers, making judgment calls
and knowing which direction
to guide your client.
Monitor the
exchange rate
With South Africa’s ailing
rand and most cruise fares
based on hard currencies, the
exchange rate is a huge factor
in cruise sales. Good timing
of your client’s full payment
could translate into signifi-
cant cash savings.
“Clients often do full payments when booking instead
of deposits only if the rand
is strong. The option to also
do partial payments when the
rate is good can save them
money in the long run,” advised Gaynor Neill, Cruise
Vacations General Manager.
However, wait too long to
pay in the hope that the rand
will swing in your favour
and your client risks landing
up on the wrong side of the
exchange rate, warned Paul
Clarke, a partner in White
Star Cruises.
“It cannot be stressed too
much or too often by the
agent to the passenger: watch
and allow for currency fluctuations, especially if there
are long periods between de-
Try Central America...
continued from page 11
as a reposition cruise from
the east to west coast, or vice
versa,” said Ms. Krog, who
added that the peak season is
“at the beginning and end of
the North American summer,
May and September, and
during the South American
season, from December until
the beginning of March.”
“The east coast sailing out
of Miami tends to be the port
of choice to embark from,
due to the cruises being long-
er, all year round and offering more variety,” said Ms.
Neill.
It should be noted that the
Caribbean coast can be affected by hurricanes from
June to November, and cruise
lines will divert to alternative
ports if weather conditions
dictate.
“The costs to get to the
United States are the first
barrier to entry and will continue to limit the potential
from South Africa,” said Al-
lan Foggitt, Director of Sales
a nd Ma rket i ng for MSC
Cruises South Africa, whose
MSC Divina sails out of Miami.
“W hat we f i nd is that
when a client chooses to go
to the US they tend to pack
in all the options into their
holiday, including: Disney/
Orlando, car hire and Miami
stopover and the cruise is an
add-on to the holiday versus
the primary reason to visit
the States or Caribbean.”
posit and final payment,” he
said. “Unfortunately we have
had passengers who, when
confronted with the rate on
the due date, literally cannot
afford to settle and would
rather lose their deposit than
continue.”
Encourage
flexible departures
If clients are not restricted to
a set date of departure, they
are likely to get a better deal,
according to Mr. Clarke.
“The ability to travel at
will and at short notice can
be extremely beneficial, as
many lines offer incredible
last minute rates, particularly
at the beginning and end of
the season.”
“Always check the fares
for similar departure dates,
Briefly.
S
cenic Cruises has last-minute availability
on several late season, fully inclusive river
cruises, including a seven-night Highlights of
the Rhine sailing, from Amsterdam to Zurich,
departing October 13. Fares from US$2,295 pp.
Other departures available in October and November, with fares from US$2,595 pps. C
ruise Vacations has complimentary Havana
pre-cruise stays for local passengers booking
Star Flyer Cuba seven-night voyages, departing
either December 7 or 14.
as MSC has a dynamic pricing policy…so it is very possible that a cruise a week
apart could have very different fares,” advised Ingrid
Roding-Tudor, MSC Cruises’
Press Officer.
Emma Momberg, Cruisemasters Marketing & Product Manager, said low season
departures are where you
will usually f ind the best
deals.
However, she noted that the
offer is not always according
to lowest price. “Sometimes
the offer is a value-add, such
as onboard credit. Remember
that this can also contribute
towards cost cutting as it reduces the client’s onboard
expenditure.”
Mr. Mathews also suggested agents check shoulder season fares for the better deals,
but he pointed out that it can
be a bit of a gamble because
the lowest cruise fare at that
time may not be all that low
in rand terms if the exchange
rate happens to be unfavourable at the time of sale.
Sell These: South & Central America
continued from page 11
Star Clippers sailings visit Panama (February and November), Costa Rica (November
to January), Nicaragua (November to January) and Cuba (December to March) on
the Star Flyer. Most sailings are seven nights, but can vary from five to 14 nights. A
14-night itinerary from Barbados to Panama takes in stops in Venezuela, Aruba, Colombia and the Panama Canal.
Azamara Club Cruises includes late-night departures or overnight stays on more
than half of all port visits allowing more time to explore. A 12-night Costa Rica ‘Coastto-Coast’ trip aboard Azamara Journey takes in Panama City, Caldera (Costa Rica),
New Orleans and Miami.
Crystal Cruises brings high seas luxury to Central America, with the Grand Panama
Canal Transit one of the highlights: the 19-day adventure sails from Los Angeles to
Miami, via Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama.
Regent Seven Seas’ newest build, the 750-passenger Seven Seas Explorer, will enter
service in 2016. Highlights of the new vessel’s design include a one-of-a-kind owner’s
suite. Bookings for its inaugural season will open in early 2015. Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Serenity will visit Cape Town in 2015 as part of its world
cruise. The ship departs Perth March 13, heading for Rio de Janeiro arriving April 3. Sectors of Silversea’s 2015 World Cruise are now open for booking. These include
Mombasa to Cape Town in March 2015 and Cape Town to Fort Lauderdale in April.
This month Amadeus River Cruises launches new sailings along the Mekong in Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as the Irrawaddy in Myanmar. They will be operated
by the five-star boutique ships, Mekong Navigator and Irrawaddy Explorer. Optional
land arrangements include visits to the Khmer temples at Ankor Wat; Ho Chi Minh
City; Ha Noi with Ha Long Bay or Bangkok (Mekong sailings) and Yangon (Rangoon);
Inle Lake or Bangkok (Irrawaddy).
Crystal Cruises will operate a new 32-day expedition cruise through the Northwest
Passage in 2016. First sailing departs August 16, 2016 from Anchorage/Seward, on
the Crystal Serenity. 12
TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
Cruise lines ensure passenger experience
when unexpected events affect itinerary
WITH political unrest and
unpredictable weather patterns a reality, cruise lines
have learned how to put passengers’ safety first without
compromising their cruise
experience.
“Like all industries, cruising is not exempt from misfortunes and contingency
plans, but this is not something that happens often,”
said Tracey Krog, Commercial Manager at Cruises International.
“The cruise lines that we
represent avoid cancellations
at all costs, unless there is
something wrong with the
ship or if sailing could jeopardise the safety and security
of the passengers.
“Changes to the itinerary
usually occur as a result of
poor weather conditions. But,
should there be a technical
problem, the ship’s management team will work around
the clock to ensure that guests
are not inconvenienced,” Ms.
Krog explained. Changes to the itinerary,
she added, usually happen
only as a last resort: “If the
changes are made prior to
sailing, with passengers informed well in advance.” Ms. Krog also noted that
there were usually few complaints from guests, as early
warning would provide time
to adjust their plans if so
desired. And, if a change is
made whilst a customer is on
board, they would be offered
a contingency plan “difficult
to reject”.
Still, customers are urged
to purchase insurance in the
event they are forced to cancel their vacation for a reason
falling outside a cruise line’s
cancellation policy. “This
could mean a future cruise
certificate to the value of the
cruise originally booked,”
said Ms. Krog.
If the client’s actions are
covered by the cancellation
penalty, they would likely
receive a cruise certificate
covering up to 75 percent of
the cruise fare, depending on
how close to the sailing the
cancellation was made. If the
client does not have cruise
insurance, they will be liable
for the penalties that apply. But terms may vary from
one cruise line to another,
with Ian Mathews of Triton
Cape Sea Travel, commenting that cruise lines often act
on a case-by-case basis. “We find that, if the cruise
line handles the situation
with care and points out that
any changes made are for the
passengers’ own safety, clients are understanding,” he
said. When it comes to cancellations made by passengers
themselves, travel agents
are issued with a schedule
for cancellation fees. “We
encourage agents to up-sell
insurance to cover cancellations. After all, passengers
spend so much on their cruises that they should spend a
little more ensuring they are
protected against all eventualities,” said Mr. Mathews. Cruise Vacations’ policy
is to ensure that passengers
are aware of the company’s
terms and conditions, which
addresses how issues such as
political unrest or acts of God
would be dealt with, advised
General Manager, Gaynor
Neill. T he most com mon re -
sponse would be a change
in itinerary – and the cruise
line reserves the right to do
this, she said: “The terms and
conditions make it clear that
if a port has to be changed,
no refund will be made.”
However, in extreme cases, such as the volcanic ash
cloud of 2012, a full refund
may be made. “There are no
set rules; we evaluate on a
case by case basis,” Ms. Neill
added.
The circumstances may
be slightly different for river
cruising, according to Jolene
Campbell, Brand Manager
of Uniworld Boutique River
Cruises.
“Operations may be affected if water levels get
too high or too low,” she remarked. “We also experience
incidences where locks along
the river are closed or being
repaired. In the case of high
or low water, the effect on
the cruise is different in each
case – for example, in 2013
there was flooding along the
Danube River and cruises
had to be cancelled.” However, Ms. Campbell
said this was an extreme case
and itineraries could easily
be adjusted. “This means we
may dock in a specific place
for more than one night and
skip another docking spot.
When this happens, we use
land transportation to transport our clients to the sights
and planned excursions that
are set in the itinerary,” she
said. “If the company has to provide compensation, it usually
gives a future cruise credit
or in extreme cases, compensation in the form of cash
settlement,” Ms. Campbell
explained. And, if a client
has to cancel their booking
before departing South Africa, “they should be covered
by our gold seal protection,
which means they will receive a full refund. “If they do not have gold
seal protection, they will be
liable according to our cancellation policy,” she warned.
At the Durban launch event of Uniworld’s 2015 brochure
last month, Tracy Bucki from Pentravel Kloof won a
cruise for two. Pictured above (l to r): Jolene Campbell,
Brand Manager for Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
with Ms. Bucki.
the
BY LISA WITEPSKI
Sales Resource
TIR rounds up the latest product sales, marketing and training resources for travel professionals.
Regent Seven Seas releases new sales guide.
Regent Seven Seas has released its Voyages to Explore December 2014 – December 2015 programme. Download the comprehensive sales guide from rssc.com.
NCL launches new travel trade site.
Norwegian Cruise Lines’ new web-based trade portal, Norwegian Central, can be used to manage bookings and provides
access to research and promotional tools, dining options,
onboard activities and details about transfer and hotel programmes. Agents in South Africa can access the NCL University online at www.nclu-intl.com. New subscribers should use Triton Cape Sea
Travel as the wholesaler. To register to use the BookNCL function, send company
name and manager’s contact details to ianm.nclsa@galileosa.co.za.
Earn Shipmates Points with Cruises International.
Cruises International’s travel trade booking engine has a number of useful sales
features. In addition to booking functionality for lines including Royal Caribbean,
Celebrity and Azamara Club Cruises, the portal allows users to search for pricing capabilities, itineraries, ship plans, specific categories of accommodation and
stateroom information. Subscribers also earn Shipmates Points for online bookings. To register: book.cruises.co.za
TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
13
Airlines adapt as high flyers trim spend
Corporate travel policy squeeze forces business travellers to move back
BY MELANY BENDIX
CORPORATES are maintaining a tight grip on travel
policies, forcing many business travellers to shift down
a cabin, or two, from the very
sharp end. Those who used
to fly first class are now often f lying business, while
former business class passengers have been downgraded
to premium economy and
the less fortunate have been
bumped to the far right.
“We have had a very torrid
time in the corporate travel
market over the past six to
nine months,” confirmed Allan Lunz, BidTravel Managing Director.
“Most corporates have cut
spend by around 50 percent,
so they are only travelling
when it is absolutely necessary and even then they are
cutting back on the number of
people travelling, the length
of the trip and, of course, the
class of travel.”
Mr. Lunz said many corporates had placed watertight restrictions on their
travel policies to only allow economy or premium
economy travel for all but
their top executives – and
even these high f lyers are
now obliged to scout out the
cheapest price. “We are under enormous pressure from
our corporates to find the
best available business class
fares,” he said.
Wally Gaynor, Club Travel
Managing Director, agreed
pressure to deliver the best
premium class fares is immense.
“It is not like the old days
where money was no object
for your top guys; their travel
spend is also being closely
watched,” he said.
No end to
corporate travel
restrictions in sight
The status quo is unlikely
to change soon, despite a
slightly rosier forecast for
premium travel.
T he I nt e r n at ion al A i r
Tr a n s p or t A s s o ciat ion’s
most recent Premium Traffic Monitor reported a small
and slower climb in premium traffic for June, at 1.8
percent. However, premium
yields had risen further to
just under 29 percent in June.
The association reported
that “the rising trend in the
14
share of premium travel since
late-2012 remains intact”, but
cautioned the industry not to
get too excited as uncertainty
in global trade conditions
“places some doubts over
strong acceleration in trade
and business-related demand
in the near-term”.
What this all means for
the travel agent is that the
majority of corporates are
not going to relax strict travel
from its fleet. The airline has
been progressively downsizing its first class operations
and will only offer it on its
A380 f leet once it phases
out its A330s and A340s in
around two years.
Mr. Al Baker said first
class was no longer economically viable as few executives had flown in first since
the 2008 financial crisis. “I
don’t think that there will be
“Most corporates have cut
spend by around 50 percent,
so they are only travelling
when it is absolutely necessary and even then they are
cutting back...”
– Allan Lunz, BidTravel
policies any time in the near
future, so mid- and lowerlevel executives should make
themselves comfortable in
lower cabin classes.
Business class
cannibalises first
With the exception of diehards such as Etihad and
Emirates which are still battling head-to-head to raise
the bar in luxury first-class
air travel, airlines are responding to the shift in premium market demand by
cannibalising first class seats
with lie-f lat business class
seats. Others are cutting out
first class altogether.
According to recent data
from the American Centre
for Aviation, this is a clear
indication that long-haul first
class air travel is definitely
on the decline. As an example, the transatlantic New
York JFK to London Heathrow route is the world’s most
popular long-haul first class
route, yet demand for the
sharp end flagged enough for
American Airlines to remove
first class cabins entirely
from its f leet of 777-200s
operating the route.
In Febr uar y, Air India
confirmed it would remove
first class seats from all international f lights. Brazil’s
TAM Airlines followed suit
in May, by conf ir ming it
would replace first class with
upgraded business class.
The same month Qatar
Airways Chief Executive,
Akbar Al Baker, announced
the airline would eliminate
first class almost entirely
TIR Southern Africa • September 2014
a return to first class travel,”
he said. “The chunk of our
premium occupation is business travel. There is very little leisure travel in the front
cabin.”
Market demands
more premium
economy
Lufthansa, meanwhile, will
remove around one-third of
its first class cabins on longhaul aircraft later this year.
The airline, along with others
such as Singapore Airlines
and Hawaiian Airlines, is instead beefing up premium
economy class in line with
international demand.
This demand is reflected
in the price sensitive South
African market too, according to Michelle Kleu, Travelstart Country Manager for
South Africa.
“The majority of our clients are very price sensitive,
therefore a marginal amount
of clients book business or
first class… Where we do
see a very positive growth
trend, however, is in premium economy.”
SAA considers new
premium product
South African Airways is
also expected to jump on the
premium economy bandwagon. In July, Business Traveller quoted SAA’s UK and
Ireland General Manager,
Gary Kershaw, as saying the
national carrier planned to
introduce premium economy
on its London/South Africa
routes, first with retrofitted
seating and then on new order aircraft joining the fleet
in 2017 or 2018.
SAA could not be reached
to confirm this, but what is
becoming increasingly clear
Pay economy, fly business
AIR Mauritius is filling up premium class seats on its
South Africa/Mauritius routes by offering economyclass travellers the opportunity to experience the
sharp end without breaking the bank.
“Air Mauritius offers a Pay Economy Fly Business for
a very competitive fare of R4,140 during basic periods,
which allows people to travel in business class and
experience our lie-flat product on our Airbus A340
or A330,” explained Carla Da Silva, Regional Manager
Southern Africa and Latin America.
“We also offer a last minute upgrade of R1,500 per
person at the airport, subject to availability and only on
our A340 wide-bodied operation.”
is: if airlines don’t adapt to
changing demands in the premium class market, they risk
losing out.
“The top cabins are now
simply no-go’s for all but
the very high f lyers,” said
Mr. Lunz, “there is no going
back.”
Briefly.
E
tihad A ir ways
recently introduced a luxur y
chauf feur ser vice
for all premium
cl a s s p a s s e nge r s
travelling to and
from their accomm o d at i o n w i t h i n
100 kilometres of
OR Tambo. Book 24
hours in advance.
Who’s still flying business?
BUSINESS travellers still take up the bulk of business class
cabins in and out of South Africa, despite clampdowns on corporate travel policies. This is according to a number of airlines
canvassed by TIR, which reported that business class loads
were still good on South African routes.
“On the Nairobi-Johannesburg route we offer 10 to 15 percent of our seat capacity in business class and these are
well taken up regularly… Our business class passengers are
mainly corporate travellers and government officials – of
course the upper class leisure traveller also makes use of
this cabin.” – Helena Maxwell, Kenya Airways Sales
Manager South Africa
“The percentage of business and leisure passengers travelling in premium class on the Mauritius/South Africa route
differs depending on the month and period of the year. For
example, over the Easter period and December period it is
almost 95 percent leisure/holiday traffic. However, during
the year business class is mainly for meetings and incentives and corporate travel.” – Carla Da Silva, Air Mau-
ritius Regional Manager Southern Africa and Latin
America
“On Swiss, business class is mostly made up of corporate
travellers, academics and European Leisure travellers.”
– Andrea Carlyle, Swiss International Air Lines
Brand Manager
“Our configuration is 37 business and 254 economy. Most
flights go out full… corporate travellers are the biggest proportion of business class.” – Margaret Copeland, Delta
Air Lines Country Manager
“The passenger mix is different from market to market. For
example, Johannesburg has around 30 percent share of
business travellers whereas Cape Town is leisure dominated with over 80 percent leisure travel. Oil and energy
destinations such as Luanda cater almost exclusively for
the business traveller.” – Karin Duncker, Lufthansa
spokesperson
“From South Africa there tends to be stronger demand for
business class between Johannesburg and London than
between Cape Town and London, as one would expect.
Routes where there is typically high demand for Club World seats include our North American services and African routes
such as Lagos and Johannesburg… We do, however, anticipate increased demand for Club World from Cape Town as we are
the only airline offering a direct, year-round service to London.” – Shaun Pozyn, British Airways Marketing Manager
Pictured right: SWISS International
Air Lines' daily service to Zurich ranks
among the best business class products to Europe. The 1-2-1 layout of the
Airbus A340-300 gives every premium
traveller direct aisle access. Window
seats, in particular, offer plenty of
privacy and a large workspace with
in-seat power. Seats are stylish, with
wood and leather trim, and extend to a
fully flat two-metre bed.
Expert Feedback
Earn and burn: How to get the most out of airline loyalty programmes
Evan Konwiser, New York-based travel business consultant and co-founder
of airfare-prediction site FlightCaster:
“Never ever fly without earning miles. Even if you are on a new low-cost carrier you have
never flown before, you may as well sign-up. You never know when those miles may
come in handy down the road if you fly with them again (or not). It’s just too easy not
to. But, only belong to one programme per major alliance; this way you can consolidate
miles. Since you can earn and redeem on any carrier within an alliance, there's no need
to have points across programmes. However, it's always best to keep your points in the
carrier you fly with the most. Then you can use those points for upgrades and some
other perks that might only be available to members of that programme. Pick a ‘dominant’ programme to focus on. Usually that will be the programme of the airline you fly
with the most… Sign up for all the alerts for this programme so you know when there are
mile specials and bonus point opportunities. Also get a credit card of this programme
so you can get miles when you make your first purchase, and use it for purchasing tickets on that airline. Go for top tier status. That is the goal of airline loyalty programmes,
after all… Elite status gives you the ultimate travel experience. Even at the lowest tier,
you generally get priority check-in, priority security, priority boarding, better seat selection, priority baggage, no baggage fees, a special phone number for better service, and
– Courtesy Lifehacker.com
more.”
Nigel King, XL Travel Strategic Development Manager:
“The secret is to know the benefits, because in addition to rebated or free flights there
are a host of leisure, lifestyle and travelling benefits. Helping clients make the most out
of their loyalty programme is how the travel agent can make a real difference. Offering
loyalty card management as part of the value proposition will ensure frequent travellers
get the best value from their miles earned. In return, agents can command a fee for this
service along with associated booking fees every time there is a redemption transaction.
Indicating to the corporate traveller when and how best to use the miles saved and an
indication of the rand saving benefit which resulted can be a great service differentiator.”
AIR CANADA: ALTITUDE
Sign-up at aircanada.com. Depending on
membership status, passengers are eligible
for free upgrades, bonus miles and lounge
access.
AIR MAURITIUS: KESTRELFLYER
Priority check-in and, for Kestrelflyer Gold
cardholders, a 50 percent mile bonus
earned on economy bookings. Members
can now redeem miles for free upgrades.
Members can earn and burn miles with Air
France or KLM. It also has partner agreements with SIXT Car Hire and Indigo hotels.
BRITISH AIRWAYS: EXECUTIVE CLUB
Executive Club members accumulate tier
points as they fly. Each successive tier provides more benefits. Silver and gold members have access to over 250 airline lounges.
Other benefits include free seat selection
from time of booking and additional baggage allowances.
DELTA AIR LINES: SKYMILES
There are four tiers, Silver Medallion, Gold
Medallion, Platinum Medallion and, the
16
highest, Diamond Medallion. Miles never
expire. From January 2015, members will be
rewarded in accordance with the fare paid,
not miles flown. EMIRATES: SKYWARDS Redemption opportunities are constantly
being expanded and registration is now
also possible through a new app for iPads.
Emirates also recognises loyalty among its
younger customers, with a frequent flyer
programme dedicated to young travellers,
called Skysurfers. Miles can be exchanged
for free flights, toys, books and entry to attractions in Dubai.
ETIHAD AIRWAYS: ETIHAD GUEST
Etihad Guest is positioned as a loyalty programme, rather than a frequent flyer programme, as there are frequent flyers but
also frequent ‘buyers’. In addition to its new
chauffeur service for passengers travelling
to or from Johannesburg (see page 14), members can also earn and redeem points with
Marriott International. There are reciprocal
benefits for SAA Voyager members flying
with Etihad, and members also earn miles
TIR Southern Africa • September 2014
Ed Frost, British Airways Commercial Manager Southern and East Africa:
*While Mr. Frost’s advice is specific to BA’s Executive Club, he said the principles
could also be applied to all loyalty programmes. “The secret is to maximise the earning opportunities through partners, actively manage your account, stay informed
about exclusive offers, use miles to upgrade and plan ahead for redemption trips.
New members can earn Avios for any flights they’ve taken over the preceding three
months. You can also earn Avios miles from credit card, shopping, car rental, hotel and
lifestyle partners. Actively manage your account online where, in addition to checking mileage balances, you can also make bookings, claim missing Avios and purchase
top-up Avios. Stay informed. British Airways and its partners offer bonus benefits to
members. These offers are publicised in Executive Club News, member emails and
when you access your account. Understand the benefits. Executive Club membership
enables you to collect Avios from any oneworld airline and credit card, car rental and
shopping partners. When you fly you also accumulate tier points. These determine
your level of membership — blue, bronze, silver or gold. Each successive tier provides
more benefits.”
Wally Gaynor, Club Travel Managing Director:
“The big secret is to choose one programme and then try and stick to it, preferably
a programme that is part of a worldwide alliance. If you live in South Africa, the only
choice really is SAA’s Voyager (Star Alliance) or BA’s Executive Club (oneworld). The wild
card is Emirates Skywards — it’s worth looking at if you find yourself flying with Emirates a lot. The beauty of Voyager and Executive Club is that you can transfer your Diners Club, Standard UCount or Amex points over to your frequent flyer scheme. Always
remember to build up points, not just when you fly but when you shop, buy petrol and
more. Use your points to upgrade, but remember airlines only upgrade from higher
travel classes. So you have to weigh up whether it’s worth it to potentially pay a higher
fare just to enable you to get that precious upgrade. And don’t be stupid: if there is a
much better fare on an airline that is not on your programme, use the better option!
Always put a rand value to your points to work out what the better deal is.”
At a glance: new benefits for frequent flyers
when flying with Air Seychelles and Etihad Regional. LUFTHANSA & SWISS:
MILES & MORE
Miles & More is the largest frequent flyer
programme in Europe. It offers regular
promotions, such as reduced mileage
prices on new Lufthansa destinations.
Frequent Traveller cards, Senator cards
and HON Circle membership is awarded depending on the number of miles
flown. Miles & Mores cards are then valid
for three years. QANTAS AIRWAYS:
QANTAS FREQUENT FLYER
Members can earn and burn Qantas
Points with over 35 affiliates. A new
shopping hub, qantaspoints.co was recently added, currently only available to
members based in Australia.
SAA: SAA VOYAGER
Members earn miles when they fly with
SAA, other airline partners and non-air
partners. A new partnership with Total
South Africa will enable members to earn
miles for fuel purchases made at 500
participating Total garages.
UNITED: MILEAGE PLUS
Instant upgrades and Economy Plus
seating are among the benefits available
to Premier and Blue members. Premier
bonus award miles are earned on United
Express, Copa Airlines and other partner
airlines. Discounts and waivers on service charges and fees, vary according to
membership status. VIRGIN: FLYING CLUB
Members of Virgin’s frequent flyer programme progress from Red to Silver and
then onto Gold status the more they fly.
Members also generate Flying Club miles
on bookings with hotel, car rental and
Virgin Holidays bookings. There are discounts on packaged holidays and parking
services at major UK airports.
News Digest
Tourism Minister tells SACCI delegates
SA on track to reach meetings targets
BY DOMINIC WARDALL
THE Department of Tourism
is eager to see South Africa’s
status as an inter national
meetings and global events
destination improved owing
to its direct benefits to the
country’s economy but says
the destination is on track to
meet its sizeable 2020 growth
targets.
South Africa climbed to
34th position in the International Congress and Convention Associations’ global
rankings in 2013, up from
37th place in 2012. Cape
Town and Durban have also
ranked high among the Top
100 cities for world conventions, the Tourism Ministry
has revealed. The country is
also ranked the number one
convention destination in Africa and the Middle East.
“All indications are that
we are poised to continue to
gain in this ranking,” added Tourism Minister Derek
Hanekom at the opening of
last month’s South African
Chamber of Commerce &
Industry Congress.
T he 118 meetings recognised by the ICCA held
in South Africa last year
brought more than 94,000
association professionals to
South Africa and contributed
an estimated R1.2-billion to
the economy, he reported.
“If we add up the direct
and indirect impacts of tourism in our country, an almost
startlingly impressive story
emerges,” Mr. Hanekom remarked. “9.5 percent of South
Africa’s gross domestic product in 2013, translating into
more than 1.4-million jobs. The SA National Conventions Bureau has set a target
of growing South Africa’s
business event industry by
57 percent by 2020. And, remarked Mr. Hanekom: “They
seem to be well on track. “269 associations’ conferences and events are already
confirmed between now and
2018. These events will bring
no fewer than 310,000 professionals to South Africa
ad will contribute more than
R4.2-million to our economy.”
He also highlighted the
benef its a growing MICE
m a r ke t i n Sout h A f r ic a
would generate for business
in the region.
Briefly.
A
vis has launched shuttle services for Airlink
passengers flying into the new Skukuza
Airport and travelling on to the Skukuza main
camp in the Kruger National Park. Reservations
can be made via the airline’s website. L
u Dowell Representations has added a new
DMC to its portfolio, Argentina Travel Partners. The South American specialist organises
MICE and special interest tours, as well as cruise
and leisure programmes for travel to Uruguay
and Argentina.
Sun International retains stake
in Africa, looks to new markets
BY SARAH CORNWELL
SU N I NTER NATIONA L
plans to explore new opportunities in Latin America and
Asia after offloading its majority stake in several resorts
and hotels in Africa to the
Minor International Public
Company Limited, MINT.
The value of the deal is estimated at more than R664million.
The group will relinquish
80 percent of its shares in the
Gaborone Sun in Botswana,
the Kalahari Sands in Namibia and the Royal Swazi
and Ezulwini Sun in Swaziland. Sun International will
retain a greater, 50 percent
stake in its two properties in
Zambia, the Royal Livingstone and Zambezi Sun.
The agreement does not
extend to any of the company's South African operations, while Sun International Operations Executive:
Africa, Richard Hawkins,
stressed there would be no
impact on existing sales
agreements or forward bookings.
It will continue to manage
the casino operations at relevant properties, while MINT
will assume day-to-day responsibility for managing the
hotels.
Given that Mint does not
operate or manage casinos
there is the basis for a natural
partnership of natural skills
and strategy, the company
has said.
“Effectively, this is an
asset management exercise
where we will then be able
to focus on what we do best,
which is run casinos,” Mr.
Hawkins commented.
“Minor already has a big
footprint in Asia. They are
also in the Gulf region and
have moved into India. They
are in Vietnam too, and then
have a massive footprint in
Thailand. If they expand that
footprint, there will be an
opportunity for Sun International to twin with their
business on new ventures.
“[Local] inbound operators will also get better business; so it is an add for us but
also for the trade,” he said. The agreement is expected
to take three months to conclude.
Joining Beachcomber on one of its recent agent educationals to Mauritius (above, l to r): Gillian Suckerman,
Travel League; Gerti du Plessis, Sure Ritz Travel Windhoek; Tanya Viljoen, Beachcomber Sales Executive and
Joanne Visagie, Beachcomber National Sales & Marketing Manager, sample Shandrani’s attractions.
Qantas and partners launch new
Down Under package promotion
QANTAS Holidays and Qantas Airways have launched
a new booking promotion
for the South African market, with packages for travel
to Australia’s major cities,
including return flights exJoha n nesbu rg to Syd ney
and accommodation, from
R8,380 pps.
Airport taxes are not included but some packages
also include arrival transfers
and a city tour.
The new promotion is valid for booking until the end
of October. Travel must commence by March 31, 2015
and excludes December and
January.
Diary
Registration for the African Business
Travel Association’s upcoming conference, being
held at the Sheraton in Pretoria from November
2 – 4, opens to the rest of the industry this
month. For details: www.abta.co.za
TIR Southern Africa
•
September 2014
17
News Digest
IATA finalises first NDC module launch
claiming it is vital to travel distribution
BY DOMINIC WARDALL
TH E I nter national Ai r
Transport Association says
it will launch the first set of
New Distribution Capability end-to-end schemas after receiving final clearance
of its Resolution 787 from
US transport authorities last
month.
Resolution 787 is the foundation for the NDC, intended
to improve how fares and
airline ancillary product is
displayed and compared on
consumer and agent-only
booking displays.
The US Depar tment of
Transpor t tentatively approved t he resolut ion i n
May, dismissing concerns
consumer privacy could be
jeopardised.
IATA said implementation
would be voluntary but market adoption was an “exciting
development for air travellers, airlines, intermediaries,
and for competition.
“…The next step is the release of the first comprehensive set of NDC end-to-end
schemas, so the travel industry can start defining how
best to take advantage of the
new capability,” said IATA
Director General and Chief
Executive Officer, Tony Tyler.
He reaffirmed that no passenger would be required to
divulge personal information
to receive an offer – a major
sticking point raised by early
opposition to the project.
Although ai rli nes will
be free to choose their own
data exchange methodologies, IATA believes the development promises significant benefits from corporate
travel account managers,
“vital to the travel distribution chain”, as and when the
schema are adopted by their
technology partners. (‘Five
Reasons Why NDC is Good
for Corporate Travel Buyers’
– Yanik Hoyles, IATA)
I ATA expects that because the N DC st andard
would ultimately facilitate
the provision of up-to-date
airline product and service
information, business travel-
lers would no longer have
to search for this information and make supplementary
bookings on airline websites
and third party systems.
Cor porate managers
would also have full visibility over the complete costs
of one f light option versus
another, while product attributed and ancillaries would
be displayed in a structured
way, IATA explained.
It will also support the
distribution of a participating airline’s entire offering,
including any ancillaries,
which would mean all flightrelated expenses would be
pooled into the account manager’s system for more complete and effective reporting.
Briefly.
E
mirates will launch a new daily flight to Budapest from October 27.
Imagine plans more
Stuttafords openings
STUTTAFORDS and cruise
and leisure holiday retailer
Imagine plan to take their
new store-within-a-store
concept nationally. The first
Imagine travel concession
at Stuttafords Sandton was
opened last month.
The opening is the result
of a new deal between the
two partners to provide shoppers in-store access to travel
planning and booking services.
The concept of travel concession stores has already
proven popular in the UK,
said Imagine Chief Executive Officer, Robin Deller.
“By launching this successful concept in South Africa,
Imagine will be introducing its successful formula
of unbeatable travel deals,
exclusive product and quick
turnaround in a chic, elegant
environment in which shoppers are already comfortable.”
Imagine is based in the
UK and also runs a call centre business in Cape Town.
Spotted at the 2014 AVIAREPS Airline Mini Fair in Cape Town…
Pictured above (l to r): Dubai Department of Tourism and
Commerce Marketing Account Manager, Bailey Gorst welcoming Lulu Levine of Lulu Levine Travel to the Emirates/
Dubai Tourism pavilion.
South African Airways’ stand was a hive of activity as
agents tried to outdo each other in a paper airplane
challenge. Pictured above (l to r): Bettina Behrens, Mosaic Tours & Travel with Trevor Brown of SAA and Sylvia
Marzagalli of Sylvia’s Travel.
Members of EgyptAir’s management team were in Cape
Town to promote new product and network developments.
Pictured above: EgyptAir Regional General Manager, Ihab
Seif with Club Travel ITC, Sandy Leslie of Personal Travel.
Pictured above (l to r): Qantas representatives Michelle
van Wyk and Khalo Mmalo lure agents Down Under with
Aussie-themed props and product news from the airline.
Pictured above (l to r): Nolene Ashfield and Charlotte Bezuidenhout from Delta welcome Nadima Omar of Travel
Services Culture Tours to their stand.
Pictured above (l to r): new to the Singapore Airlines sales
team in the Western Cape, Lorette Garnett with Claudia de
Avevedo and Shagufta Shariffi, Reservations.
18
TIR Southern Africa • September 2014
Personally Speaking
by John Wardall
Now I know where the sun don’t shine
Y
ou either like the terrain of the Karoo or
you don’t. I do. I like
the clear air, the wide
open vistas, the mountains and
the flora.
So I thought I had better go and
have a wander before it all gets
fracked.
En route, a couple of days in
Plettenberg Bay sounded a good
idea. Passing through Knysna, the
now-correct informal settlement
is bigger and more of an eyesore
than ever. I have no idea why
these settlements have to be right
on major thoroughfares and in the
most previously-scenic locations.
I don’t have a lot of sympathy
for the proximity to work-opportunity argument; I know plenty
of people in London who commute two hours each way to work.
Friends had been in Plett the
week before and had enthused
over the warm temperatures and
swimming in the sea.
No such luck pour moi. It was
cold enough to freeze your buns
off. However, a lucky find eased
the aching joints. The Milkwood
Manor Hotel was just what the
doctor ordered.
It is now called the Milkwood
Manor-on-Sea, following the
floods in 2010, which washed
away Lookout Beach.
The beach has returned, better
than before, and the hotel, which
was previously on the other side
of a parking lot, is now on the sea
and adjacent to the lagoon.
A spacious corner room with
a balcony overlooking the beach
on two sides, free Wi-Fi, in-room
tea and coffee, DStv, a welcoming
staff, a free car wash every morning and its perfect location dare
me to say it is probably the best
value in Plett.
It was a short stroll across the
beach to the deck of the Lookout
Restaurant for a pint of prawns
and a Foresters for lunch, after the
best morning coffee and pastries
at Clare’s on Main Street.
The sun emerged and the wellbeing encouraged a surreptitious
toss of a couple of prawn heads
to a waiting seagull, no doubt
frowned on by fellow diners.
Like everywhere else these
days, Plett has a plague of car
guards every 10 metres all over
town and in every nook and
cranny a car can fit into. I have no
idea what service they are providing. I am capable of reversing my
car without assistance and when
I have returned to my car on two
occasions at the local shopping
mall to find a dent in it, the guards
have somehow vanished into thin
air.
I had thought about a stay at
the Plettenberg, which is very
nice, but I will not stretch to
the rates common to all of Liz
McGrath’s hotels. I have just
booked accommodation in New
York for significantly less.
It is a pleasant drive to Plett,
except for the proliferation of
the world’s worst drivers, who
all seem to think that driving too
fast and overtaking on solid white
lines and blind corners is a sign of
skill. I like speed but on the track;
being a total ass does not appeal.
However, many of the speed
traps are absurd. They are clearly
revenue generators more than
safety measures. There is nothing
safe about watching the speedometer more than the road as the
indicated speed drops from 120
to 100 to 80 to 60 and finally to
40 in the space of half a kilometre. It is dangerous driving and
unroadworthy vehicles which
cause accidents and that obviously includes driving fast when it
is dangerous to do so. Around 70
percent of road length in Germany has no speed limit and the
accident rate every year is a tiny
fraction of ours.
I also don’t know anywhere else
where it is legal to drive without at
least third party insurance – forget
the Road Accident Fund. But, as
with so many things, we compromise standards for political
reasons.
Heading towards the Karoo,
beyond Oudtshoorn, the R47
winds through Meiringspoort,
cutting through the Outeniqua
Mountains, with spectacular cliffs
overhanging the road, crossing
numerous rivers.
The road, walls and bridges
have been beautifully restored
after floods early this year caused
extensive damage and there are
plenty of newly-thatched rest
stops in picturesque locations.
Most visitors drive over the
Swartberg Pass towards the
N2 but Meiringspoort has now
become my favourite route,
although the pass has fabulous
views and a completely different
perspective.
Deep in the gorge, the road
passes through De Rust, the prettiest little village I have seen in
the Karoo. I was sorry not to have
scheduled the time to spend a
night there.
The destination was Prince
Albert which, despite enthusiastic
recommendations from friends,
I find, is an unremarkable little
town, which has potential if only
the community would use a bit of
creativity, marketing and ambition to provide the kind of shops,
restaurants and activities which
appeal to visitors. Maybe they
don’t want it to be anything more
than it is or maybe I’m just too
hard to please. The now-irate local burghers will no doubt let me
know.
A highlight was an early supper
at the Lazy Lizard, rounded off by
the best apple pie this side of the
equator, drizzled with Gay’s finest
local clotted cream, good enough
to make the Pick ‘n Pay or Woolies
variety weep. It seduced even me,
the most dedicated non-dessert
eater.
As in Plett, the temperature
made a mockery of the denial
many South Africans have that
there really is not a winter here.
I have been unkindly advised to
stick it where the sun don’t shine
on more than one occasion but
was never quite sure where that
was. I have now been illuminated;
it is Prince Albert in the depths of
winter, exacerbated by the rental
of a very nice but technologically
challenged house in the middle of
nowhere.
My patience with the great
green obsession is limited at the
best of times – wind farms, solar
stuff-ups and other assorted fads
of sandal-wearing, tofu-eating
loonies leave me cold.
Literally last month, when
the sun didn’t shine in PA and
the lights went out in the solar
underpowered manse, replaced
by the dulcet tones of a clattering
generator, which nearly shook the
fillings out of my pearlies and left
bags the size of rucksacks under
my bright blues.
Jocular comments about similarities to Madam’s snoring did not
add to the warmth of the morning.
Every time I take a driving
holiday, I am reminded what
a magnificent country this is;
people cause problems, not the
landscape. The beautiful Hex
River Valley on the way back to
Cape Town, ever-watchful for
rocks tossed from the inevitable
informal settlement at passing
motorists – which they were doing again a couple of months ago
– was a reminder of what we have
been blessed with and what we
must not squander.
PS
Dreams tend to be whimsical,
happy or surreal. Or else they are
nightmares. After watching Sky
News recently, Gaza was obviously on my mind, resulting in a
dream which was probably more
farce.
Zimbabwe was lobbing rockets
into Pretoria, although most of
them were falling short and blowing up crocodiles in the Limpopo.
The Mad Mugger claimed
reports were a plot by the gay
British cabinet to discredit him;
Amazing Grace flew to Milan to
buy designer fatigues and army
boots from Gucci; and the Zoomer got it mixed up and ordered an
invasion of Lesotho by the arms
deal submarines and frigates.
I woke up feeling reassured that
the Big Z still had his steady hand
on the tiller of state, even though
the rudder seems to have fallen
off.
PS
I might take a little more notice of
the critics of Israel’s Gaza policy
if they displayed the same sort
of concern over the actions of
Islamic State which, in just one
incident in Iraq, executed 80
innocent people for refusing to
convert to Islam, makes a habit
of beheading people it considers
unbelievers, crucifies and buries
women and children alive and
is perpetrating genocide on the
Yazidi population; or the conflict
in Syria which has claimed the
lives of around 200,000 people;
or the carnage in the DRC; or the
torture in Equatorial Guinea, etc.,
etc., etc. The mess in the Middle
East, in particular, is due to the
disastrous failure of misguided
Western foreign policy. Meanwhile, it is obsessed with a futile
and pointless confrontation with
Russia over Ukraine.
Our local demonstrators should
take note that Shia Muslims would
be the first target if the barbaric
jihadists of IS came marching into
South Africa. And they do not
seem to have noticed that there
has been little, if any, support for
Hamas from other countries in
the Middle East, other than Iran,
who realise extremist groups ultimately pose as much of a threat
to them.
However, even though Hamas
precipitated the violence in Gaza,
continues to fire missiles indiscriminately into civilian areas of
Israel and uses its own people as
human shields, it is inexplicably
winning the propaganda war in
the West and creating an appalling round of anti-Semitism in a
world which largely doesn’t understand the issues and is driven
by a mainly left-leaning and naive
media.
PS
I see that crashing bore Pallo Jordan, often described as the ANC’s
leading intellectual – well, everything’s relative – loved to pontificate from his illusionary pulpit of
academe and was foisted on the
industry as Minister of Tourism in
the late 90s, has been outed for
faking his educational qualifications. What a surprise! At least he
is sorry – sorry he got caught.
With any luck, Business Day will
stop running his yawn-inducing
columns. They are even more
tedious than mine, or so Madam
tells me.
TIR Southern Africa
continued on page 20
•
September 2014
19
News Digest
...the sun don’t shine
continued from page 19
The horrifying incident of a Malaysia Airlines aircraft being shot down over Ukraine
is an example of the inadvisability of civilian traffic overflying a conflict zone.
While international outrage is understandable, the US, in particular, should
remember that one of its guided missile
cruisers mistakenly shot down an Iran Air
A300 en route from Tehran to Dubai in
1988, resulting in the death of all 290 on
board.
A Soviet fighter shot down a Korean
Air Lines jet in 1983 when it strayed into
restricted airspace and was mistaken for
a spy plane and, closer to home, two Air
Rhodesia Viscounts were deliberately shot
down by Joshua Nkomo’s Zipra in 1978 and
1979.
The message is clear.
PS
In next month’s issue of TIR...
We profile top-selling Indian Ocean beach breaks and round up the
latest product news in the annual Forex & Insurance feature. Social engineering reached its peak of absurdity recently when I heard a government
spokesman on the radio refer to people
who were “previously Indian”. If there is
an Indian, Japanese, Chinese or any other
population group who thinks he or she is
anything other than what they are, I would
be pleased to hear of it.
Personally, I would be pretty insulted if
anyone tried to coerce me into denying my
heritage in order to comply with the rewriting of history and I’m sure every previousIndian feels the same way.
PS
Off to NYC for the annual infusion of theatre, galleries, museums, restaurants and
civilisation. If Islamic State doesn’t turn me
into a kebab and the Big Z’s surrogates at
immigration don’t send me packing when I
fly back into Joburg, I shall report back next
month. I’m outta here. Have a nice day!
Tourism Ireland and CIE ran a
series of Irish pub quiz workshops, hosted by Travel Vision, last month. Ireland is
promoting its new Wild Atlantic Way route, which CIE
incorporates into its tours.
Pretoria’s quiz winners pictured (l to r): Adriaan Kruger
and Sonia Kruger, 2 Life Travel
with Leeann Naidoo, Tiffany
Price and Hayley van Dyk, all
Carlson Wagonlit Pretoria.
South African Airways A330-200
Business Class LHR–JNB
Flight Check
BidTravel launches new online brand
BY SARAH CORNWELL
BIDTRAVEL has launched
its first above-the-line consumer marketing campaign,
promoting its new exclusively online-branded platform
targeting leisure travellers,
Webjet.co.za.
Webjet is already an established brand in a number
of overseas markets but is
BidTravel’s first dedicated
online product.
The new site wast soft
launched in April, with packaged holidays, hotel, flight,
insurance and car rental in-
ventory now available for
booking. Managing Director,
Allan Lunz, remarked: “It
might have taken longer than
we would have liked… [but]
this is the big bang.”
Mr. Lunz, said the number
of users in the first weeks of
operation had been encouraging. Online booking functionality will be backed by a
call centre, he explained.
“The objective is to make
the brand top of mind among
consumers… We have never
really played in the consumer-facing space but, at this
point in time, we definite-
ly want to have a presence
there.” With 80 percent of the
travel population coming
out of Gauteng, most of the
brand’s early promotional activities would focus on that
market, Mr. Lunz added.
BidTr avel’s c or p or at e
and leisure brands have all
experienced strong online
growth, according to Mr.
Lunz, with corporate online
booking platforms accounting for up to 20 percent of
bookings. “The big issue is
credibility but we are working with proven suppliers.”
THE 11-hour flight was a comfortable one with the lie-flat seats and efficient onboard service, following a wait in the well-equipped Heathrow lounge. A generous
three-course dinner, paired with a wide range of South African wines, was served
with little delay to allow passengers maximum time for a movie or an early-to-bed.
The touch-screen entertainment system was impressive, with a wide selection of
movies and new 12” LCD screens. Arrival was slightly ahead of schedule, and luggage appeared promptly on the carousel. This service has few bells and whistles,
but offered a solid premium class experience. With South African Airways gearing
up for its move to London Heathrow’s new Terminal 2, passengers can look forward
to even better lounge and airport facilities from October.
80_Seating
60_Attitude
90_On-time performance
75_Food
90_Aircraft
80_Onboard announcements
70_Service
85_Check-in
Overall rating:
79/100