BIDTRAVEL: Tourism Rebounds While BidTravel Focuses on the Details

As the saying goes, time is a healer. Perfectly demonstrated across South Africa’s travel and tourism industry, the effect of patience, perseverance, and persistence continues to be positive for those that were able to manage through the problematic pandemic.

The challenge was set. When lockdown came in March 2020, travel businesses must survive until restrictions were lifted and operations could resume. Many failed, and many longstanding companies were lost. But those that stuck the course and organised effectively are still here. Today, the picture is very different, and gone is the talk of survival. Now, thriving and growing is on the agenda again, and time – alongside good management – has helped to restore ambition in South Africa’s tourism space.

Lidia Folli, CEO at BidTravel, told Enterprise Africa in 2022 that the pandemic had hurt the business, but it had made changes to navigate the tough environment. “I don’t think we will get back to where we were 100% in this calendar year, but I think we will be at 80% by the end of the year,” she said.

In 2023, she was proved right and, with restrictions lifted, the industry grew. “We have certainly seen travellers returning in their droves,” she told Enterprise Africa.

BidTravel is a travel management organisation providing services to corporate and leisure travellers across a range of brands that span different parts of the travel, tourism, and transport industries.

Now, Folli keeps the struggles of the 2020 epoch in mind while looking forward to how the industry can continue to regenerate in what is a changed but opportunity-laden environment.

Within BidTravel, historic brands provide a range of services. The portfolio includes Rennies BCD Travel, Rennies Travel Namibia, CWT, Harvey Worldwide Travel, Bush Breaks, Weekend Breaks, New Frontiers Tours, Cruises International, Scintilla, WorldTravel, and more.

From here, the company can organise business travel, corporate breaks, family vacations (into and out of South Africa), camping, and much more. All of the ancillary services can be organised, and the company can delivery a turnkey solution for anyone travelling for any reason.

UNDERSTANDING THE MARKET

Folli is keen to cover every eventuality and has been researching some of the fundamentals behind the industry – who is coming, why are they coming, what are their concerns, how can BidTravel and South Africa provide for them, and what is better about tourism in SA compared with other options.

Firstly, she picks up on the continued strength of demand in traditionally strong markets. “Higher international travel rates were seen in the UK and Germany and this tells me that targeting our marketing more in their direction would simply make sense.”

Compared to North America, where domestic travel is mostly the preferred option, thanks to smaller vacation allowances, UK and German travellers – especially younger people that fall into ‘millennial’ or ‘gen-z’ categories – are keen on adventurous tourism and exploration.

“Experts predict that there will also be significant leanings towards travel experiences that embrace culture, nature and seeking bucket list destinations. That sounds like a recipe for a trip to South Africa to me!” says Folli.

Of course, South Africa has challenges to address when attracting international tourists from any region – this was the case pre-pandemic – but technology is playing its part here.

“Domestically, our lack of infrastructure within cities has largely been mopped up by e-haling services which allow our gen-z travellers easy access through our major cities. I think the challenge still remains though how Gen Z travellers are able to transit within our rural areas where many may not own vehicles or driver’s licenses because they have no need to own or have access to cars when living in the cities.”

Even for domestic travellers, moving across SA’s large expanses, with road infrastructure mixed in quality, BidTravel has solutions. In fact, the business is keen on a new brand of tourism which sees digital capability abandoned to allow for a truer relaxation. This, she says, is certainly where South Africa can play.

“South Africa offers the perfect peace that is found in bush-breaks, in our mountain escapes, our beach escapes, and even in the beauty of our semi-dessert regions… Simply getting as far away as possible from a world that is ruled by technology, populated by crowded urban areas and riddled with stress.”

Focus on the small things, looking at customer demographics, searching for gaps in the market, and – importantly – understanding customer behaviour is where BidTravel and its brands excel. By finding solutions to real problems and not pushing a one-size-fits-all approach, the company is helping to create meaningful experiences and memories, and this is where word-of-mouth, reputational marketing begins.

GROWING, OVERCOMING

Folli is clear that, as South Africa’s ambition to be a global tourism destination for both business and leisure grows, there are issues to overcome, but the country without doubt has the ability to deliver magical tourism offerings that are simply unavailable elsewhere.

“All in all, I do believe that, with some work on a few of the challenges we face as a country not quite as advanced in certain aspects, we definitely do have what it takes to have strong appeal for both millennial and gen-z generations, and travel and tourism in SA faces a bright future!”

2023 was proof that the industry and the country had recovered, and time had indeed helped heal some of the pandemics deep wounds.

The industry demonstrated an almost 52% increase in activity compared to 2022. By the end of 2023, South Africa welcomed around eight million foreign tourists, including well over a million from Europe. The African continent was a strong source of tourist arrivals, and for this reason industry commentators are encouraged that the country is on track to meet its goal of an average of 10 million arrivals by the end of March 2024.

“These latest figures underscore South Africa’s appeal as a sought-after leisure and business events destination. Africa as a source market continues to dominate in terms of arrivals and therefore solidified its position as a key contributor to our tourism industry,” said Tourism Minister, Patricia de Lille.

“The continued strength of established markets like the UK, US, and Germany cannot be overstated. While numerous factors can be attributed to this, direct flights have bolstered these numbers, reflecting not only the ease of connectivity but also the deep-rooted travel relationships South Africa enjoys with these nations.

“The re-opening of the Chinese market and the initiation of direct flight routes have catalysed a resurgence in arrivals from this region, highlighting the vast potential and significance of this market to South African tourism,” she added. 

Of course, Folli was also excited by the strength of the numbers. She is confident about the way forward and has so far proved to be right about the future growth of the industry. Her one warning is that the industry must continue to invest in talent to ensure businesses like BidTravel and its brands can rollout the level of services required to support ongoing development.

“Generally speaking, the forecast for travel and tourism in South Africa is a glowing one, the beginning of which we are seeing right with bumper year-end tourism figures being reported in most of our tourism hotspots. One thing I have learned however, as one with much experience in the industry, is never to become complacent and rest on one’s laurels. The COVID pandemic was a hard lesson learned on how rapidly fortunes can change and we in travel and tourism must, while the going is good, continue to train, nurture and reward our people so that they in turn will strive to make SA one of the best destinations in the world.

“Secondly, as an industry we need to spend that money we are earning from these bumpers seasons to continually strive to offer a better service, better experiences, better food, better venues etc to be the world’s number one,” she says.

As more time passes, more guests will arrive, bringing with them more money to flood into South Africa’s economy. For BidTravel, facilitating this needed inflow is part of the service, and it will continue to grow alongside the critical tourism industry.