The Russian, Central and Eastern European source markets remain buoyant for travel to southern and East Africa, with domestic travellers as well as the US, UK and German markets still dominating.

This was revealed in the February Snapshot survey conducted by the African Travel & Tourism Association (ATTA) – which promotes tourism to Africa from all corners of the world.

The survey also showed an increase in budgeting from 0-20% in January to 20%-40% in February, suggesting an increase in confidence from travellers.

ATTA will be taking a ‘snapshot’ at the end of each month from the perspective of accommodation providers, DMCs and tour operators to gain insight as to what is happening within the broader African travel and tourism industry. “The results will support identifying patterns as our industry restarts, however gradually,” said ATTA CEO, Chris Mears.

A total of 245 tourism industry respondents from around the globe participated in the survey.

Here are some of the key findings of the February survey:

Hotels, camps and lodges

• Almost all respondents are now open in February (those that are not seasonal). Those that were closed, plan to reopen by July.
• Local direct bookings continue to dominate, increasing from 88% in January to 96% in February.
• Regarding the lead times in booking during February, the majority of respondents experienced a continued demand for last-minute bookings. Six-months-plus also dominated.
• Top-five markets for travel in southern and East Africa:

1. Domestic 2. Germany 3.SouthAfrica (non-domestic) 4. UK 5. USA  

NOTE: Russia was 6th, with those from Central Europe also featuring.

DMCs

• Continental Europe, UK, Australia and New Zealand, and Canada were identified as the top traditional source markets.
• Canada, UK and US were identified as the top-three source markets for visitors in February.
• Flexibility remained key and relationships are essential for sales.
• 69.7% said conversions were hard.
• 93.9% said they were being flexible in their negotiations.
• 45.5% said “everyone was looking for a deal”.

Tour operators/travel agents/private guides

• Only 28.8% were operating with a staff complement of 80% to 100%. The majority (36.8%) were operating with a zero to 20% staff complement.
• A total of 61.6% were receiving enquiries for Africa in February.
• Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe were the top-five destinations in demand.
• The majority of enquiries came from the USA, UK and South Africa.
• The average lead time for these enquiries was mostly six months.

Click HERE to view the full report.