Global company, Sojern, which provides digital marketing solutions and insights for the travel industry, has expanded its service offering into South Africa to capitalise on the growing post-pandemic tourism boom.
Stewart Smith, Sojern MD for the Middle East and Africa, will oversee the launch, having successfully rolled out Sojern’s solutions in other regions over the past eight years.
“South Africa was hit harder than many countries by COVID-19; the travel industry in particular across the country was brought to its knees. In the aftermath of the Omicron variant in late 2021, the country is now in a fantastic position to capitalise on global travel recovery and Sojern is launching at a brilliant time to help travel marketers remind travellers why South Africa is one of the greatest countries on earth,” said Smith.
Since the onset of the pandemic, Sojern Insights has powered the travel and tourism recovery research for the UN World Tourism Organization, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Skift Research.
The company also provides weekly travel insights to help hotels, attractions, and tourism boards understand travel behaviour and plan for recovery.
“For more than a decade, Sojern’s team of data scientists have analysed the complete traveller path-to-purchase, taking a scientific and data-driven approach to digital marketing,” said Smith.
“We work with brands to create integrated marketing campaigns across multiple digital channels, helping them engage with travellers wherever they are in their journey, from dream to destination. With South Africa remaining a top travel destination for global travellers, we see lots of opportunities for growth throughout 2022.”
Smith has outlined some of the top travel trends Sojern has identified for South Africa in 2022:
- Some destinations are recovering faster than others: Destinations like Kimberley and Bloemfontein are up YoY, however are still a long way off their 2019 booking and search volumes.
- Flight prices are volatile: COVID-19 caused a drastic drop in inbound flight prices, however international fares into South Africa are now in fact higher than their 2019 levels.
- Domestic travel is still booming: 49.9% of flight bookings to South Africa originate in South Africa, demonstrating how crucially important domestic travel is. The UK is second, at 9.3%, with the US ranking third at 5.4%, followed by Germany (4%) and Zimbabwe (2.5%).
- How far in advance are people booking? Most domestic travel is immediate, while overseas visitors are booking their December holiday trips to South Africa already. Interestingly, international travellers are booking further in advance in 2022 than they did in 2019, whereas domestic travellers are booking closer to their departure dates than they did pre-pandemic.
