Chances are that if Karen Blixen had kept her “faaarm” in “Aaafrica”, it would now be a private game lodge aimed at the overseas market — because that’s where the big bucks are. And I don’t mean Eland.
In South Africa the perception that our tourism industry is not interested in the local, rand-earning market is seemingly given fuel by the often prohibitively (for us, at least) high prices being commanded by hotels and resorts across the country, especially at the luxury end of the market.
It’s a perception that the domestic market is finding hard to shake, and one supported by a largely lazy travelling public that resists change, for better or worse.
The average South African family taking a break in our sunny country tends to return to tried and tested destinations rather than try something new. Self-catering, camping or caravanning are hugely popular with the home market because these are traditionally the cheapest options.
And there’s the rub. Cheap and a holiday in South Africa — almost synonymous five years ago and taken for granted 10 years ago — are fast becoming a thing of the past.
Is there a problem? Is the industry alienating its bread and butter domestic market? Are South African holiday prices unrealistically high? Do some of our tourism establishments actively discourage the local traveller by aiming prices at what they consider the international market will afford? Yes and no. Overpricing undoubtedly took place in the past, perpetrated by somewhat less-than-scrupulous members of the industry who cashed-in on the rand’s demise and all-time lows against the United States dollar and pound by hiking their markups and profit margins and reaping the short-term rewards.
Now with a stronger rand, a lot of those less scrupulous industry members are hitting the financial wall and having to look to the home market to keep themselves afloat — a case of what goes around, comes around.
The truth is that overpricing isn’t an issue today — and by and large the prices being charged across the board in South Africa are market-related. Not cheap any more, perhaps, but fair nonetheless, and reflective of a country that is emerging as one of the world’s top holiday destinations.
So why the whinges and this apparently falsely-held belief that local tourists are being ripped off?
According to chief operating officer at SA Tourism Moeketsi Mosola, South Africans need to look at the bigger picture and reassess their expectations.
“South Africans tend to focus on the negative and look inwards. We moan that only the overseas tourists can afford the prices being charged at some of our hotels, without considering how those prices are made up.
“It’s time to de-segregate the issues, to take the product apart and realise where we are in a global sense.”
Apparently we are doing rather well in the global sense. According to the Hotel Industry Benchmark Survey, a comprehensive and independent analysis of the hotel industry conducted last year by Deloitte, the average room rate in South Africa is R470 a night, compared to the average US rate of R685 and Europe’s R761.
So it’s a question of higher pricing, rather than overpricing. And, as Mosola points out, in this free-market economy the laws of supply and demand prevail — the prices charged are what the market can support.
“Ninety percent of our industry is behaving responsibly where pricing is concerned. Unfortunately the domestic traveller in South Africa has been focusing on the 10% who have been unscrupulous.”
Mosola says that in the tourism industry, customers vote with their feet — and any operator who overcharges is ultimately going to pay the penalty. “People will choose for themselves and the market will self-regulate, it’s inevitable,” he says, adding that, ultimately, the goal of the tourism industry is to make money and keep that money in South Africa. “All things said and done, South Africa still represents good value for money.” Mosola adds that this is what the domestic traveller should focus on.
When looked at as part of the bigger, global picture and excluding the cost of air travel, which accounts for 60% of South African holiday packages for overseas visitors, South Africa is still competing as a long-haul destination.
But Mr and Mrs Joe Public and their three children from Blikkiesfontein aren’t worried about which carrier to choose from Johannesburg International airport — they’re far more likely to jump into the old jalopy and hit the highway for their holidays.
What they’ll be paying when they get to where they’re going is what motivates them — to the point of dictating their choice of destination.
Mosola’s answer is that South Africans ask the wrong questions. “Instead of asking why they can’t afford to spend a week in a five-star, luxury game lodge in the Sabi Sands, they should be asking, ‘Where can I afford to spend a luxurious week with my family?'”
But where do they get those answers in an industry generally catering to the inbound market (overseas visitors coming to South Africa) and outbound, international destinations (South Africans going somewhere else on holiday)?
“Sadly,” says Mosola, “there has been a failure on the part of the South African tourism industry to correctly identify the needs of the domestic market. For example, for the emerging black, middle-class market, events often influence their travel decisions. Events like jazz festivals and cultural celebrations. There’s a complete mismatch between what’s on offer and what’s needed.”
Add to this the fact that a large part of that emerging domestic market does not have a history of travel and don’t know how to do it, and a whole new ball game emerges — one where the captains of the tourism industry hog the ball and the rule book and the rest of the players run around blindfolded. What is the answer?
“Education,” says Mosola. “What SA Tourism has not done successfully is to properly educate the local consumer. It’s something we are going to be focusing on in a big way. For a start, there needs to be more education in the travel agency sector, educating agents on the marvellous products we have here in our own back yard and putting emphasis on domestic travel.”
Transformation is also playing a pivotal role in the domestic tourism market. In an industry described by former minister of environmental affairs and tourism Mohammed Valli Moosa as “lily-white”, the general consensus is that transformation has been too slow and too shallow over the past decade.
Mosola puts it into perspective.
“Businesses that resist will find their days numbered. The captains of this industry must lead from the front.”
Drawing the crowds:
Last year South Africa’s turnstiles notched up a grand total of 6 504 890 visitors. This was 1,2% up on the 6 429 583 achieved the year before — a figure somewhat artificially boosted by the crowds wooed by our hosting of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
The latest figures, released by SA Tourism, reveal that other African countries are responsible for the bulk of our international tourism, with 4 433 007 people coming in from the African mainland — 1 284 593 of these from Lesotho. In hot pursuit are the Europeans, with 1 319 172 visitors. The top European nations visiting us are the United Kingdom, with 456 468 people, followed by Germany with 257 018, France with 127 760 and The Netherlands with 120 933. North America came in third with 222 139 visitors, 187 477 of whom came from the United States, with the remainder coming from Canada. Asia accounted for 176 566, Australasia for 89 062 and Central and South America for 40 357. Bringing up the rear were the Middle East with 31 814, the Indian Ocean Islands with 20 243 and an unspecified number of 172 530. — Sharon van Wyk