Travel & Leisure

The conversation around African hospitality has shifted. For years, the industry spoke about the continent’s “untapped potential”. Today, that potential is translating into sustained and undeniable growth. The sector has moved beyond the recovery phase and entered an era of sophisticated expansion that is redefining the global travel map. This momentum also highlights the importance of sustaining growth in Africa through long-term strategies and investment.

In April 2024, when 18 months of rain fell on Dubai in a single day, more than 1,200 flights had to be cancelled, stranding over 250,000 travellers in terminals. Late last year, Cyclone Ditwah wreaked havoc in Sri Lanka during peak tourist season, forcing mass evacuations of foreign visitors. Right now, conflict in the Middle East continues to ground flights and drive disruption, further intensifying ongoing business travel disruptions.

On Saturday, 28 February, war in the Middle East grounded three of South Africa’s key long-haul carriers: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar. As a result, the Middle East crisis disrupted major aviation routes. With airspace closed, thousands of travellers were stranded. They were either in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, or at their destinations with return flights in question.

Hospitality has always welcomed guests effectively. However, an important question remains. Are we equally good at welcoming young people into lasting, meaningful careers? South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis is well-documented. Hospitality should play a stronger role in changing that story. The sector can offer first jobs, skills, confidence and exposure to the world.

The headlines keep telling us that South Africa’s hotel sector is witnessing a strong recovery. This year, analysts estimated the market at $11.49 billion. They expect it to exceed $15 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 6.37% between 2025 and 2030. However, anyone running a hotel locally knows these figures tell only part of the story. In reality, SA hospitality’s ‘recovery’ looks far more fragile on the ground.

Everyone knows how important it is to retain good staff, and how disappointing it is when a top performer leaves. This impact is felt more keenly in smaller businesses. For a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), losing a key employee is not just an HR inconvenience. It can shake team morale, disrupt operations and affect customer relationships.

At first, out‑of‑town work trips might have felt like a promotion. You represented the company, were sent to “make things happen”, flew Premium Economy, stayed in a fashionable hotel, networked and hopefully, secured new business. But after some time, red-eyes, quick turnarounds and other travel pressures started wearing thin. So, you begin checking out mentally. You wonder why this could not have been a Teams call. You also wonder why every “quick” trip requires intense preparation, domestic juggling and days of unscheduled recovery time.

If you do one thing differently in your organisation this year, let it be saying goodbye to ad-hoc business travel for good. This is the type of travel that sees your team make three separate trips to Johannesburg, Cape Town, or Nairobi within six weeks. Or book flights with less than five days' notice. Or add unnecessary expense, complexity and stress to already-packed schedules.

Remember January 2025? You probably thought your biggest travel worry would be whether the hotel Wi-Fi actually worked. Fast-forward eleven months. You have navigated everything from geopolitical chess games to Artificial Intelligence (AI) reshaping how you plan and manage business trips. These experiences offered early business travel lessons that few anticipated.

For many companies and their teams, the new era of ‘work from anywhere’ offers professionals unprecedented location flexibility. Families can travel more easily because work can now be managed alongside holidays. Professionals can balance work and family trips without rushing or postponing plans.