Travel & Leisure

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.

Ahead of the peak holiday season, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued a timely reminder to travellers. It urges everyone entering or leaving South Africa to use the SARS Online Traveller Declaration System. This step helps streamline processing at ports of entry.

You may have missed a recent entry in the growing list of aviation absurdities. On 15 October 2025, a United Boeing 767 departed Washington Dulles for Italy. The flight seemed normal during its first hour. Then the pilots reported a problem that sounded like a bad joke.

The hospitality industry is evolving rapidly, and coffee now serves as much more than a beverage. It has become a cultural touchpoint, a marker of quality and a vital part of the guest experience. As we move toward 2026, the role of specialty coffee continues to grow across hotels, restaurants and cafés.

With more South Africans embracing “bleisure” than ever before, leveraging SA’s 2026 public holidays offers a strategic edge for business travellers who want to mix work with meaningful downtime. According to Flight Centre Travel Group’s 2025 Global PR survey, 77% of South Africans have either combined business and leisure travel before or plan to do so in the future.

Incentive travel is making a strong comeback in South Africa, but not in the way it used to. Once defined by luxury and leisure, it is now being reimagined as a strategic business tool. This change aligns with employee well-being, sustainability and company culture.

Picture this: It’s peak travel season and you have left it until the last minute to book accommodation for that all-important conference. Now, your only options are a presidential suite in Sandton or a faded motel on the outskirts of the city. The motel comes with shared bathrooms and no sign of a Nespresso machine. Sound familiar?