Covid-19 has left a significant impact on the local tourism industry but not all of it has been for the worst. This, according to Hara Jackson, Sales Director of Legacy Hotels & Resorts.

Hara also maintains that the next few months will be a tipping point for tourism and an opportunity to embrace the changing landscape as a means to thrive.

“The pandemic has forced us to adopt and adapt quickly and to see that change is not always a bad thing. Some of it was already imminent and landed up benefitting us in the long-run,” says Hara.

An example was the swift embrace of technology through the use of platforms like Zoom. The inability to attend business meetings, both locally and abroad, has inadvertently saved Legacy thousands of Rands in travel costs and thousands of hours in non-productive travel time.

But as the world slowly starts getting back to normality, we must remember that change has not only happened within our own walls. It has also brought about a shift in the travel trends and behaviours of our target market.

“We, as an industry need to remain nimble footed and structure our business models around this as well,’ says Hara.

Proximity to Gauteng With the threat of a fourth wave looming, many South Africans are still nervous to book overseas trips. As such, domestic travel will remain a big focus for Legacy. Close-to-home, bush destinations are a favourite at the moment and with Gauteng being our largest domestic source market, the Pilanesberg makes for an attractive destination.

All strategies have been adapted to ensure we are fully capturing the potential of this market. We are also hopeful that with the roll out of vaccinations, domestic travel will not be shut down again.

Lastminute Travel In much the same way as people are nervous to book overseas trips in case of heightened restrictions or border closures, people are also booking their holidays right before their travel dates. In the past, the trend was a two to three month lead time on bookings but Covid has seen an increase in “lastminute.com” interest. We will be working on strategies to make sure we seal the deal on every one of these.

Cape Town to recover Eased travel restrictions from key source markets like the UK, means that we should start to see a slow and steady increase in tourist arrivals to Cape Town over the next few months. Our recent decision to reopen The Commodore Hotel at the V&A Waterfront is a positive display of our confidence levels. We believe that there will be an steady uptake again, specifically over the December holiday season. We look forward to the months ahead which will show us what the interest is and where the potential lies.

Flight shortages European flights to South Africa are limited and more expensive than they once were. As flights begin to increase, we will be focusing our efforts and capitalising on ensuring every passenger becomes a Legacy guest.

Vaccinations and Sanitisation We will continue to prioritise and urge all our staff to be responsible and get vaccinated. Vaccination rates in South Africa, coupled with stringent health and safety measures in our hotels will inspire confidence in our country as a secure destination. We should all be doing our best to make sure our guests feel safe, and are safe, at all times.

Conferencing on the rise The good news is that enquiries for small group conferences are on the rise. The trend is a result of our South African government relaxing the restrictions on gatherings. As the summer season kicks into gear, Legacy will be honing in on corporate conferencing and events to ensure all our venues are booked to Covid-friendly capacities.

Corporate travel remains slow Work from home policies are still in place for numerous organisations and as such, corporate travel is still sluggish. Again, as vaccination rates increase and as lockdown measures ease, we believe the market will regain its momentum, albeit slowly.

So as the hospitality sector recovers from the Covid pandemic and the use of the term, “business as usual”, is an unlikely one in the near future, Legacy will continue to proactively forge the path forward. Shifting trends should not be seen as only negative, but rather as an opportunity or an indicator of how we need to pivot operationally or strategically in order to remain competitive.

“We remain positive that occupancies and business can only get better, coming off the very low base we have had. Trend mapping, team work and a whole lot of passion will take this company over the speedhump and back onto the road to recovery,” says Robert Hodson, COO of Legacy Hotels & Resorts.