Between January and February this year, Cape Town International Airport welcomed over 200,000 international arrivals, surpassing the 2019 figure of 194,058 and breaking all records from the past five years.

Of its top five overseas markets – The UK, Germany, the USA, Netherlands, and France – none are less than an 11-hour flight away. In other words, overseas tourists visiting Cape Town aren’t just spending a lot of money to get there but a lot of time too. And while they could take two hours off their flight time by landing in Johannesburg, it’s still very much a long-haul destination in its own right.

Enhancing the visitor experience

As Clinton Thom, general manager, Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront points out, it’s critical that the local hospitality sector respect this investment and ensure that it pulls out all of the stops to make their stay as memorable as possible.

"South Africa and the broader Southern African region have so much to offer travellers," he says. "But we must recognise the time and effort those travellers put into getting here. If we want those visitors returning time and time and encouraging their friends to travel here, their trips must feel magical from arrival to departure."

One way of doing so is to cater to the growing trend of circuit travel. Also known as triangle tourism, circuit travel involves people doing a circuit of different towns and cities when they’re visiting a new destination. In some cases, it can even involve hopping between different countries within a geographical region.

Seamless travel experience

For some, that might sound like all the family holidays they’ve ever been on. Circuit travel is, however, much more seamless than those DIY family trips. Ideally, visitors shouldn’t have to think about how they’re getting from one destination to another on their circuit nor where they’re staying or what they’ll see when they get there.

So, for example, a family might enjoy Cape Town’s beaches, restaurants, and heritage sites and then fly into Hoedspruit for a safari holiday at one of the region’s major parks before heading to Johannesburg as a stop off on the way to Livingstone to experience the Victoria Falls and then finally returning to Cape Town before heading back home.

"Given how much there is to see in Southern Africa, circuit travel makes a lot of sense," says Thom. "It’s also a much more low-risk approach than someone from a foreign country trying to plan a trip to a destination they’re not familiar with."

As Thom points out, there is a significant opportunity in the local hospitality sector to take advantage of this trend. The opportunity, he says, is particularly significant for hotels within the same group.

Leveraging hotel groups

"A hotel group could, for example, offer specials to visitors who book stays at three or four of its destinations within a country or region,” he says. “It could additionally offer loyalty and rewards incentives to guests making these kinds of bookings."

It’s easy to see how this approach could be expanded beyond hotels too. Airlines, travel agencies, and tour guides could also come together to encourage circuit travel in Southern Africa.

"For many visitors, coming to South Africa is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Thom. "That’s even more true for people adding on other Southern African destinations to their trips. A well-organised hospitality sector that embraces circuit travel could make it the kind of once-in-a-lifetime trip they convince friends, family, and colleagues to take too."

"Doing so also benefits providers across the sector, even in areas that might not get as many visitors as more popular destinations," he concludes. "Tourism is already crucial to the South African and Southern African economy. Imagine what it could do if, instead of 200,000, there were 300,000 or 400,000 international arrivals at Cape Town International Airport and a significant portion of those arrivals went on to visit other parts of the country and region. Imagine how many jobs could be created, lives positively impacted, and lasting memories made."

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