Interest from the American market for travel to Africa is recovering following a recent dip in bookings caused by fear of Ebola after the outbreak in West Africa, say members of the inbound tourism industry. 

Tour operators had previously reported experiencing a drop of between 20% and 70% in bookings due to Ebola. Mike Waller, CEO of Dragonfly, said requests for proposals (RFPs) from the US market had dropped by 27% in 2014 as a result of the perceptions around Ebola. “However, since mid to late January, there certainly has been resurgence from the US market and almost none of our clients has mentioned Ebola or expressed any concerns about the epidemic,” he said.

Michael Tollman, CEO of Cullinan Holdings, told Tourism Update that concerns from the US market about visiting Africa because of Ebola had reduced. However, he said it was expected that the trend seen in declining bookings from the US would continue for a few more months because of group bookings, which were made in advance. “I suspect we will see more recovery towards the second half of the year.”

According to Michael Lutzeyer, Owner and Managing Director of Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, another factor driving recovery from the US market could be a weakened rand against the US dollar. “Now the exchange rate is almost one dollar to R12 and, furthermore, Americans are starting to understand how far South Africa is from the affected countries.”

Whilst the postponed or cancelled bookings had not come back, there had been a definite increase in RFPs and interest in Africa as a whole, said Waller. “Coupled with the recent news of the abolishment of the yellow fever vaccination requirement for the popular Livingstone add-on in Zambia, the downward trend certainly seems to have reversed.”

Tourism Update has compiled a special feature looking at the US market, read it here.