Almost a third of respondents in our latest poll said their tourism businesses had been severely affected by the recent chaos at airports in Europe. 

From a total of 60 votes, 31% of respondents said they had been affected by a combination of delayed and cancelled flights, lost luggage and cancelled client bookings; 20% identified delayed and cancelled flights as the biggest hindrance to them, but another 20% said their businesses had not been affected by the upheaval at all. The remaining respondents were affected only by cancelled client bookings (8%); lost luggage (8%); cancelled flights (7%); and delayed flights (5%). 

Do we need direct flights from India?

South Africa is targeting India as a leading source market, seeking a share of an outbound tourism industry that is predicted to double in value to US$42 billion by 2024. The nation of 1.2 billion people has climbed quickly from eighth to sixth on the list of top international source markets for South Africa, and 29 000 Indian tourists are expected to arrive on South African shores in 2022: a 64% year-on-year growth. 

SA Tourism has said that the lack of direct flights between India and South Africa is a major hindrance to its goals of expanding access to the inbound Indian market. Do you, as a tourism stakeholder, feel the same?