76% of South Africans say they use loyalty programmes and 31% report they used more loyalty programmes in 2023 than in 2022.
The trend is exerting an influence of the choices consumers make regarding airlines and hotels.
The surveyed consumers say they want more travel discounts as loyalty benefits.
All this is according to a report on the findings of the 2023/4 South African Loyalty Landscape Whitepaper by BrandMapp, a product profiler, and Truth, an international loyalty consultancy.
The report analysed South African consumer responses across two categories: mass-market consumers who earn a household income of R10 000 per month, or less, and economically active consumers who earn more than R10 000 per month.
Economically active consumers use an average of 9,4 loyalty programmes, while mass-market consumers averaged 4,8 programmes.
Among economically active consumers, 19% will use airlines they feel offer the best loyalty programmes. 18% of economically active consumers will more likely select a hotel that they believe provides them with the best membership benefits.
This influence by loyalty programmes was more prevalent among men and customers who were over 65 years of age compared to those under the age of 25, regardless of their gender.
32% of economically active consumers said they would enjoy travel and flight discounts as a loyalty benefit and 27% said they would engage with programmes offering lifestyle benefits from hotels and restaurants. 11% of economically active consumers said they would be drawn to loyalty programmes based on air travel benefits. 24% of economically active consumers considered airport lounge access a great perk and 9% said that priority boarding is a big plus.
The travel loyalty programme used most by economically active consumers in this survey was the Legacy Lifestyle programme (12%). Other popular travel loyalty programmes used among these consumers were:
- Tsogo Sun Rewards (6%)
- SAA Voyager (5%)
- British Airways Executive Club (4%)
- Airlink Skybucks (2%)
- Avis Preferred (2%)
- CityLodge CLHG Rewards (1%)
- Diners Clubmiles (1%)
Only 5% of mass-market consumers said they would choose an airline based on the benefits the loyalty programmes provided.
7% of mass-market consumers reported that they would be compelled by travel and flight discounts from loyalty programmes. 9% of mass-market consumers said that they would enjoy lifestyle offers as a benefit. Just 2% of mass-market consumers would most enjoy airport lounge access and 1% said priority boarding.
