IT’S too early to tell if South Africa will benefit from increased inbound tourism following the Rand’s plunge, because global financial insecurity and threatened job losses will likely result in consumers in source markets holding on to their money. This is the view of Gabriel Leupold, director Southern and Eastern Africa for Lufthansa and SWISS International Airlines. “The exchange rate is not the issue, but disposable income, job retention and what happens to people’s assets (liquidity),” he said when he visited Cape Town last week to announce the resumption of seasonal Lufthansa flights between the Mother City and Frankfurt on October 26. He said thanks to its global presence, huge buying power and dollar-based income from dollar markets, the Lufthansa Group was stable financially despite the worldwide credit crunch. He said September sales grew by 4,2% over September 2007. Lufthansa and SWISS carried 6,3m passengers in September, an increase of 1,1% over the same time last year. For the first half of 2008, Lufthansa Group reported EUR12,1bn in revenue (compared to EUR10,1bn in the corresponding time in 2007) and a net profit of EUR402m. The next results will be published at the end of October. Leupold said Lufthansa’s South African operation remained solid with an average seat load factor of just over 90%. He attributed this to the carrier’s strategy of timely identifying troughs in demand, stimulating the market with special fares and improved communication aiding market penetration. He said Frankfurt was still considered a good connecting hub for South Africans. Over the next six months, Lufthansa will effectively double its capacity to South Africa with 46 000 seats by introducing a daily nonstop Airbus A340-600 service to Cape Town – this time including First Class. This was in line with Lufthansa’s global product decision based on research that showed a continued demand for First Class.  For the local hotel industry, the Cape Town flights meant an additional 5000 overnights alone for Lufthansa crewmembers, not adding family members who often accompanied crew on their trips.