Are you satisfied with afterhours support for agents and clients amongst domestic airlines?
Yes (6%)
No (94%)
Are corporate clients travelling less because virtual meetings have become a thing?
Yes (66%)
No (34%)
Do your clients attending conferences locally, regionally, and internationally report that the WiFi is adequate (select up to three answers):
Yes in South Africa (27%)
No in South Africa (12%)
Yes in Africa (12%)
No in Africa (16%)
Yes internationally (28%)
No internationally (5%)
Have you seen increased demand for expeditions cruises, adventure itineraries and active holidays from people aged 60 plus?
Yes (33%)
No (67%)
With international fares sky high, are more clients choosing to fly via the Middle Eastern hubs?
Yes (86%)
No (14%)
Is the Wi-Fi provided at conferences as stable and fast as your clients would like?
Yes (32%)
No (68%)
How important is Wi-Fi to your business travellers?
Very important – it’s specified all the time. (92%)
Not that important. (8%)
Do you use AI as a means to source information and improve your travel offering?
Yes (25%)
No (75%)
Are you finding that suppliers that you deal with for excursions, day trips, guided tours and shuttles are overwhelmed and cannot service your client properly?
Yes (63%)
No (37%)
Are local airlines experiencing more delays than before the pandemic?
Yes (61%)
No (39%)
Post-pandemic, do your corporate clients make unrealistic demands on you?
Yes, people have become unreasonable and I am often blamed and abused by corporate clients for events outside my control. (31%)
I occasionally feel blamed by corporate clients for events outside my control, but it’s ok. (28%)
No, I am always treated respectfully by corporate clients. (41%)
Has NDC become more important technology in your operation?
Yes (36%)
No (64%)
Have you implemented use of NDC in your operation?
Yes (35%)
No (65%)
Are more clients wanting cruises on small ships? (River and sea cruises)
Yes (54%)
No (46%)
Where do your clients want to go for the upcoming South African summer holidays?
KwaZulu-Natal (5%)
Cape Town (6%)
Elsewhere in South Africa (7%)
Mauritius (31%)
Southern Africa (5%)
Zanzibar (5%)
Middle East (5%)
Thailand (17%)
Europe and the United Kingdom (14%)
Cruising (7%)
What is the most important technology for travel agents now?
NDC (54%)
ChatGPT and Google Bard (2%)
Traveller apps (7%)
Hotel aggregator (9%)
Social media marketing apps (28%)
Travellers have been making up for lost time by indulging in revenge travel. How long can this continue?
Revenge travel hasn’t affected my bookings at all. (20%)
I don’t expect the trend to last past this year. (35%)
I expect the trend to continue past the end of 2023. (26%)
Revenge travel is now the norm for many clients - they want to spend, spend, spend on travel. (19%)
What is your single biggest challenge with airlines?
Airlines try to steal our clients and deal direct. (11%)
Airlines don’t support clients when things go awry. (14%)
Agents do huge amounts of work for airlines free of charge. (22%)
Airlines update clients but not the agent who booked. (3%)
Pre-seating is a rip-off - clients usually end up with any old seat. (5%)
Airlines have intercontinental fares excluding baggage - then, the baggage fees are astronomical! (4%)
Airline phones go unanswered, agents struggle to get urgent assistance when a client is stranded. (32%)
Airlines issue unjust ADMs. (6%)
Airlines don’t communicate via GDS. (2%)
With SAA's coming flights to Sao Paulo, do you expect a surge of bookings to South America?
Yes (59%)
No (41%)
Do you charge walk-in clients a quotation fee (which becomes a service fee if they opt in)?
Yes (30%)
No (70%)
what do you think about AI in travel?
Threat: I can never know as much about my client as AI will (3%)
Threat: I can never respond as fast as AI (0%)
Threat: AI draws information from the whole globe (3%)
Opportunity: I can use AI to help my client fast (18%)
Opportunity: I can build my travel business using AI (14%)
Neither: Nothing can replace my relationships with my clients (23%)
Neither: The pandemic showed us that humans are needed in the travel chain (38%)
How easy is it for college travel graduates to find a travel agency job in SA?
Easy - agencies are desperate for staff (8%)
Easy - but only if you have some experience (11%)
Hard – agencies only want ITCs (3%)
Hard – agencies only want low-paid interns (14%)
Hard – no agency wants to train juniors (26%)
Hard – so many agents are now ITCs, and they don’t want to employ (39%)
Does the industry lack experienced staff?
No. We have no problem finding experienced staff (14%)
We take on ITCs because we don't want to employ (15%)
We are training up juniors and fast-tracking them because we can't find experienced agents (15%)
We are taking on ITCs because we can't afford experienced agents (16%)
We are keeping our agency small because we can't find experienced agents (41%)
Are you seeing demand for Thailand?
Yes, more than in 2019 (17%)
Yes, just as much as in 2019 (11%)
Fewer bookings than in 2019 (42%)
A tiny fraction of the pre-COVID bookings. (30%)
Post-pandemic, how are suppliers incentivising agents?
Suppliers are doing so well they don’t feel the need to incentivise us (59%)
Suppliers are slowly reintroducing agent incentives (28%)
Agent incentives are the same as 2019 (4%)
Suppliers are incentising agents more than in 2019 (8%)
Is baggage still being lost and mishandled post-Covid?
Yes (74%)
NO (26%)
Are corporate conferencing budgets back to where they were in 2019?
Disappointing - it's taking longer than anticipated (67%)
Very much the same as 2019 (10%)
There's big spending on conferences after the inaction during Covid (22%)
What percentage of your clients still travel without any top up travel insurance?
0-30% (40%)
30-60% (24%)
60% or more (36%)
Are your clients asking for trains instead of short-distance flights in Europe?
Yes (51%)
No (49%)
What is your reason for cautioning young people against going into the travel industry?
High pressure, zero-error job for low salary (57%)
Very few salaried jobs (all ITCs now) (2%)
Another pandemic could wipe out travel again (2%)
The master-slave relationship between airlines and agents (6%)
The travel perks are gone (4%)
Airlines try to steal our clients (1%)
Competing with cheaper rates on the internet (11%)
An innocent mistake gets you an ADM which can ruin you (10%)
