Victoria Falls tourism businesses contacted by Tourism Update say engagement between DMCs and international clients explaining that stricter lockdown restrictions in Southern Africa are not affecting international travel experiences, together with fastjet’s ongoing commitment to the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route, are helping them to salvage bookings.

Chief Marketing Officer of Wild Horizons, Shane White, explained to Tourism Update that the majority of international clients had traditionally transited in Johannesburg before flying out on BA Comair or SAA when visiting Victoria Falls. With SAA out of the picture, BA Comair gained much of the international market share of tourists flying into the region since resuming flights. Unfortunately, this meant that Comair’s suspension of flights this month had initially been quite disruptive to many bookings.

Fortunately, LCC fastjet has continued to service the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route during this period, offering clients an alternative way to reach the destination. While the LCC was relatively unknown internationally until now due to limited interline and add-on agreements in place with international carriers, the airline is now very much on the radar for South African and international operators alike.

Speaking to Tourism Update about the situation, fastjet’s Chief Commercial Officer, Julian Edmunds, said the carrier had been the first airline to resume services on the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route following the lifting of international travel bans, and that it remained committed to connecting passengers who needed to travel between the two destinations.

“We picked up a lot of new passengers when Comair suspended its flights to the region and are happy to report that current loads for the route are very pleasing,” said Edmunds, who expects to ramp up flights to the region in the next few weeks.

At present, fastjet is flying between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with plans to increase flights to daily services in the next few weeks. “Subject to there being no major changes in lockdown protocols in South Africa or Zimbabwe and that the current raw demand levels remain, fastjet Zimbabwe will resume daily flights between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls from August 1,” said Edmunds.

Campaign co-ordinator for the We are Victoria Falls collective, Shelley Cox, also mentioned that Comair’s flight suspension, plus a move to lockdown level four for Zimbabwe, had initially had a significant impact on bookings to the region.

“This really showcased how important it is to have a variety of flights and airlines supporting a region and we have been fortunate that fastjet has stepped up to fill the gap. While many international clients initially wanted to cancel entire itineraries, many of these were ultimately salvaged by redirecting the clients’ flights to fastjet. DMCs that also took the time to engage with clients and explain that the latest lockdown restrictions had very little impact on an international holiday experience, were also successful in holding on to bookings,” said Cox.

She added that We are Victoria Falls was receiving great feedback from the tourists who were currently travelling. “Guests that are staying in Victoria Falls this week are reporting that, due to limited numbers of tourists in the area, they are having extremely exclusive experiences and are being treated like royalty wherever they go,” said Cox.

CEO of Thompsons Holidays, Joanne Adolphe, also confirmed that many of its clients expecting to travel to Victoria Falls had rebooked the airfare sector of their trips on fastjet rather than cancelling entire itineraries.

“Fastjet has really come to the party at this time with sufficient capacity and great airfares. As a result, we have managed to maintain stable enquiry numbers for Victoria Falls bookings, despite the introduction of lockdown level four restrictions this month,” said Adolphe.

“As South Africans remain banned from many international destinations, we have also seen increased interest in Victoria Falls as a December holiday destination. While Victoria Falls bookings had traditionally averaged two or three nights, we are now seeing clients booking for five nights or longer. We are encouraging promotions such as our ‘Ticket to Adventure’, which includes a choice of three out of five Victoria Falls adventure activities that we offer to clients for a set price,” she added.