Flight Centre takes on Africa

FLIGHT Centre Travel Group
SA is moving full steam
ahead with its expansion
plans into Africa by opening
up a store in Windhoek on
October 1.
“When I took over as md last
year it was part of our fiveyear
plan to open more stores
in Africa. By 2020, we plan
to move into Botswana and
Kenya,” md of Flight Centre
Travel Group South Africa,
Andrew Stark told TNW.
The group will open a hybrid
store with a focus on selling
60% business travel and 40%
leisure.
“We are attaching a fulltime
business development
manager to the store so we
can grow the business even
further,” says Andrew, “I don’t
see us having just one store in
Namibia.”
He says after 22 years in
South Africa, the only natural
way to scale the business
was to move beyond SA
borders. “Our first prospect
was Mauritius, especially
since the country offers great
tax benefits. But after digging
further, we decided to enter
Africa via Namibia. There is
healthier competition there,
which means there is a
healthier market.”
The company expects the
growth to increase its buying
power; enhance existing
supplier relationships and
build connections with DMCs
in the destination, which will
benefit it when selling Namibia
out of South Africa. “We
don’t expect it to be easy to
clean up the market, but our
entrance into Namibia will
sharpen the pencil of some of
the competition,” Andrew says.
The travel group is also keen
to acquire a few smaller South
African travel agencies. “We
want to increase our level of
expertise. Agencies with a
good corporate book and great
reputation should contact me,”
he says.
“It’s in our company’s DNA to
grow. If we aren’t opening up
in every shopping centre like
we did in the past – we will
find other ways to expand.”