Still accustomed to travelling in family groups, Indian visitors are demanding the inclusion of activities that get the adrenalin pumping.  By Michelle Colman

A noticeable and growing trend among Indian travellers to South Africa is their propensity for adventure activities. 

Comments Charmaine Beukes, Marketing Manager for White Shark Projects: “This might be a surprise, but this market is very into experiential holidays – the more adventurous the better. Shark-cage diving is hugely popular among them; this is normally followed by a paragliding or bungee jumping experience. Once again, they are trend followers of note, and eagerly follow and share experiences on social media; which is a big selling point to other potential customers.”

SST’s Suzanne Benadie agrees, pointing to shark-cage diving, helicopter flips and bungee jumping as popular pursuits.  SST has compiled an ‘enhancer’ list for clients who want to enrich a standard booking with adventure activities – it includes tandem skydiving, tandem paragliding, quad biking, sand-boarding and abseiling.

Hanneli Slabber, SA Tourism’s Country Manager in Mumbai has seen significant growth in demand for adventure over the past couple of years. “We have seen more Indian women than men taking part in adventure. We have seen an uptake in high-adrenalin adventure and find that our clients prefer shorter activities to enable them to do more.”

Family travel is another strong characteristic of this market. Judy Lain, Chief Marketing Officer of Wesgro, says: “Two-thirds of leisure Indian travellers tend to holiday overseas with their families.  This has been a trend with the Indian market for a long period of time.  Although we are seeing younger travellers coming through who will be travelling in groups, one cannot ignore the importance of family travel.”

Slabber says the South African trade does family travel for the domestic market well, but falls short in offering the same to Indian visitors. “Indian parents love where they can expose their children to volunteer stuff – specifically with animals. We are not good at marketing our interactive museums and experiences – we have so much for kids to do, but we need to get the information together in the same place, easy to find, easy to book.”

According to Merle Kwan, Operations Director for SST, many bookings need to provide for children of all ages and care must be taken to match room types and child policies when accommodation is considered.

Fanie van Zyl, Managing Director of SA Coach Charters and Bus Rentals, provides wheels for Indian travellers, most of whom travel in groups, he says. “Families join some of the groups but then part ways at some stage to continue their own journey.” He says they lean towards full luxury coach travel with enough space to allow two seats for one traveller. It is also strongly advisable to offer what has been promised without deviation and to bear in mind that Indian travellers expect the best, he says.

When it comes to destination choice, the greater Kruger area, the Garden Route and city stays in Johannesburg and Cape Town remain popular on Indian visitors’ itineraries. Van Zyl says the accommodation preference on the Garden Route is for Mossel Bay, while up north, Sun City and Mabula Game Lodge are favoured.

Johan Groenewald of Royal African Discoveries says: “The fact that Indian passport holders can now apply for e-visas for Zimbabwe and Zambia has also increased interest in areas like Victoria Falls.”

Beukes says shopping with access to international brands is high on the list of priorities, and Benadie says a trip to a casino should form part of the nightlife. Lain urges the addition of cultural experiences to the mix.

Food is a special consideration for this market. Van Zyl and Benadie point out that some groups travel with their own chef and cooking utensils, and will choose accommodation facilities that allow access to their kitchens. Many Indian travellers follow a vegetarian diet.  According to Slabber, a lot of Indian vegetarians do not eat mushrooms, while Jain vegetarians do not eat any root vegetables – to this end SA Tourism has an Indian cookbook on its website to assist the local trade.

Belinda Louw, GM of Premiere Classe in Melrose North, Johannesburg, comments: “From our experience the Indian market wants comfortable self-catering accommodation, with easy access to motorways.” Being able to procure original spices close by, and security, are also very important to them.

Language is another area that may require special attention and Van Zyl calls for the training of more Indian tour leaders and guides. Groups that require guidance in a specific Indian language will be accompanied by their own guide. “A standard Hindi greeting goes a long way to make people feel welcome,” states Slabber.

More of a challenge though, are cancellation and release dates as the market leans towards last-minute travel, often due to the visa delays. “Hotel policies do not always allow for flexibility and extending time limits right up to the last moment,” says Kwan. “We need suppliers to be more flexible and accommodating for requests in this market, often to assist with reinstating a booking once the visas are confirmed.”