Tag: business travel

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.

Chasing savings on business travel has become almost automatic for many organisations. With budgets under scrutiny and finance teams laser-focused on spend, booking the cheapest possible fare seems like an easy win.

Trends shaping business travel reveal a shift toward wellness, personalisation and clearer communication to meet evolving traveller needs. The business travel industry is growing rapidly. According to GBTA research, 52% of companies plan to increase travel budgets in 2025.

Just when you thought your travel budget was sorted for 2025, new corporate travel trends data from our Consulting Q3 2024 Business Travel Report might have you reaching for your calculator. Here's why. Business class fares are jumping, and flights are packed. Travel managers are facing tough conversations about rising costs.

As a business traveller, you carry more than just your laptop and a positive attitude. Between your tech, your corporate credit cards, and that nice watch you wear to impress clients, you could be toting around R50,000 to R200,000 in value. That's quite the tempting target for those with less-than-honest intentions.

The standardisation of port-of-entry visa requirements heralds positive change at Home Affairs. We encouraged by the work being done by Minister Leon Schreiber and his team at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). This includes the launch of the remote working visa scheme (officially gazetted on 9 October) and the new immigration directives. These changes bring welcome reforms to the country's immigration policy.

Business travel fuels growth for many South African companies, driving expansion through new connections, sealing deals, and unlocking opportunities in diverse markets. However, data reveals a significant cost associated with these trips. From August to October 2023, companies typically spent R15,138 per domestic trip and R34,943 per international business travel. These high costs highlight the critical need for companies to ensure their employees are safeguarded against cyber threats.

A per diem (from the Latin for per day) is a daily stipend given to business travellers to cover food and incidental expenses while they’re on the road. It’s not, in fact, a perk to make up for the inconvenience of being away from home – or a little extra spending money to splurge on spoils and souvenirs.

There is a lot of buzz about passengers' rights and the accessibility of air travel – from which arm rail belongs to whom, to whether passengers should be allowed to bring service animals on board, to the better care of disabled people and their essential equipment. But one conversation in particular has taken hold. Alongside the RightsOnFlights hashtag.

Soaring flight prices, persistent inflation in South Africa, and rising hotel rates in major business hubs have yet to deter business travel. In fact, the GBTA Business Travel Outlook 2023 illustrates global business travel is expected to recover to its pre-pandemic level in 2024, a full two years earlier than anticipated.