Premium leisure now accounts for more than 80% of Travel Counsellors South Africa’s leisure bookings, up from 60% in 2024, the company revealed at its Travel Counsellors Conference 2026.
Hosted at the Century City Conference Centre in mid-March, the event brought together Travel Counsellors from across the country and highlighted the growing importance of the premium travel market in South Africa.
“Premium leisure customers are well educated and an increasingly well-travelled group of individuals that are becoming a bigger part of the South African market, and they demand a high level of competence but they also want personalisation. They are not looking for commoditised travel, they are looking for personalised outcomes that are tailored to their particular needs,” Mladen Lukic, MD of Travel Counsellors South Africa, explained to Travel News.
Lukic said Travel Counsellors had seen increased interest in domestic and regional premium travel within this segment, particularly in recent months following conflict in the Middle East.
“More and more South Africans are focusing on premium leisure experiences at home. This is quite fundamentally different, because historically, domestic and regional travel was seen as an intermediate type of a holiday when you don't have enough time for a longer international holiday,” said Lukic.
“We are seeing discerning, affluent premium leisure and luxury customers looking for exceptional experiences in Southern Africa.”
He added that premium leisure should not be equated only with traditional luxury travel.
“When we look at our premium leisure customers, we deliberately avoid pigeonholing them into a traditional luxury traveller because a price tag no longer determines whether something is premium leisure experience. Premium leisure means ‘personalised’, otherwise, there's really nothing premium about it. It's just expensive,” he explained.
Lukic explained that addressing this trend was critical to the evolution of Travel Counsellors’ specialisation.
During the conference, industry strategist Leigh Dawber, former CMO of Cape Town Tourism, shared insights backed by research and told delegates that Travel Counsellors were well positioned to serve this segment through their combination of personalised service and advanced technology.
New technology
In his keynote speech, Chris Barker, Travel Counsellors Director of Digital Products, revealed the new-look TC website, launching first in the UK and soon in South Africa, and introduced the upcoming myTC app, set to launch in winter 2026.
Lukic explained that the website redesign was not just about a new look but about implementing innovative new ways to connect Travel Counsellors with their clients.
“Historically, we haven’t really been that active about connecting new customers to Travel Counsellors through this interface.
“We are now changing that. Customers will be matched with Travel Counsellors based on specialist expertise rather than geographic location.”
The updated myTC app will also introduce new features to help travellers manage their trips more easily, including improvements to its document wallet.
