Tag: Corporate Traveller

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.

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?

Portable chargers and power banks have become a carry-on essential to keep devices charged up for work or entertainment while travelling. But, with airlines changing on-board battery policies, travellers are being urged to be aware of new requirements and to rely on other measures to keep connected while in the air.

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.

In a welcome twist for South African businesses juggling cost pressures with environmental targets, sustainable hotels are emerging as an unexpected solution. Companies switching to green accommodation are discovering significant savings alongside meaningful reductions in their carbon footprint.

Life looks a whole lot different since the dawn of COVID-19 – face masks, elbow greetings, temperature checks at practically every entrance, and an overwhelming amount of sanitiser dominating our days. And business travel definitely isn’t an exception.

COVID-19 has changed a lot of things – including the way that companies and employees approach business travel. Just over a year since COVID-19 made its presence known in South Africa, it would seem as though some of these changes are fleeting, while others are here to stay.