December 2025 Newsletter

Dear Partners in Tourism,

 

A big THANK YOU to all our partners for their continued support and business in 2025!

We know our continued growth is only possible with our loyal partners that are committed to promoting South & Southern Africa and entice their clients with the wonderful possibilities this region holds for tourism.

South Africa is no longer a ‘flavour of the month’ destination and our neighbouring countries have never had the greatest reputation for stability. New destinations around the world are in vogue and factors such as air access, currency strength/weakness etc. are all in play.

Southern Africa however remains popular for its warmth of our people and the hospitality of our cultures, stunning landscapes and wonderful nature, great food and wine, good weather and exciting & adventurous outdoor activities.

The destination experienced a few bottlenecks during 2025 that hampered unbridled growth but many of these roadblocks are being removed:

In Cape Town there are a number of new hotels that will open in the next few months in the luxury segment. The Table Bay (now branded as InterContinental Table Bay) is finally re-opening too. This would hopefully reverse the current situation of excessively inflated room rates and lack of availability in that segment in the city. It might not normalise in the next 3 months but by April we should see an improvement.

Air connectivity between the Cape and greater Kruger has also vastly improved with additional flights between CPT and Hoedspruit (HDS). Airlink (4Z) and CemAir (5Z) have increased frequencies while FlySafair (FA) has introduced 3 weekly flights with their much larger 737 aircraft.

FlySafair (FA) has also introduced a daily CPT/Kruger Mpumalanga International (MQP) flight – again in larger 737 aircraft to the current equipment used by other carriers.

Connectivity between the Garden Route and the greater Kruger will also improve when CemAir (5Z) introduces George (GRJ) to Hoedspruit (HDS) flights from mid-May 2026. The flights will operate 3 times a week and arrival time in Hoedspruit is early enough that guests will reach safari lodges in time for lunch.

In our August newsletter we elaborated about the TTOS (Trusted Tour Operator Scheme) to facilitate and assist with visa applications for Indian passport holders. The scheme has been particularly convenient for groups but can also be used for FIT travellers. Royal African Discoveries is a member of the scheme and thus able to assist with the visa applications for Indian passport holders.

Additionally the South African immigration authorities used the G20 Leaders summit as a trial run for a new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system. The ETA system will now be rolled out for all tourist visa applications for FIT travellers from India, Indonesia, Mexico and China. More detail is available at https://eta.dha.gov.za/ . The ETA system will eventually be rolled out to other potential high volume source markets that require visas.

The visa requirements for visas for tourists purposes have also been amended for certain EU countries for stays of less than 90 days. The following countries no longer need visas for South Africa for tourist purposes and bring them in line with all other EU passport holders that don’t need visas for South Africa: Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Hopefully the removal of these roadblocks will ensure a continued growth in tourist numbers.

I was recently able to take the team to the greater Kruger area for a site inspection trip (and our End of Year celebration). The team spent a night together at Kapama River Lodge and then split into lodges all over the Thornybush, Timbavati and Karongwe Reserves for stays at Chisomo Safari camp, Makanyi Private Game Reserve, Royal Malewane Lodge, Royal Malewane Waterside, Siviti Lodge & Thornybush Game Lodge.

The team also managed site inspections at:

• Kapama Buffalo Camp
• Kapama Southern Camp
• Kapama Karula
• Karongwe River Lodge
• Kuname River Lodge
• Becks Safari
• Shiduli Safari Lodge
• Kamara House at Thornybush
• Saseka Tented Camp
• Farmstead at Royal Malewane
• Masiya’s Camp at Royal Malewane
• Siviti Homestead
• Radisson BLU Safari

Our clients trust us on our recommendations due to our in-person first-hand experience and knowledge of the properties we propose for clients. The trip has surely enhanced that aspect – please reach out to any of the team members on feedback.

The last quarter was a busy time for us visiting our partners around the world on sales calls. I did two trips to Europe and Pieter travelled to India. We will be taking to the skies again early in the new year. Pieter is heading to the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand in January.

We’re also very excited about the luxury roadshow that we’ve put together for early March and will cover Manila, Bangkok, Singapore and Mumbai. A handpicked selection of the top luxury products from Southern Africa will accompany us. They’re all looking forward to give our partners an in-person introduction and update on the properties.

A clash of dates and travel schedules will however mean that that we will not be participating in the South Africa Tourism roadshow in India during February. It is the first time in more than 20 years that we’ll not be part of the roadshow but it is unfortunately unavoidable. We remain committed to the very important market for us and look forward to seeing our many partners in India again later in the year. We will be in Mumbai in March as mentioned.

As usual we will be present at We Are Africa in May in Cape Town. We look forward to meeting with many of our luxury focussed partners from around the world that attend the event.

As the festive season nears we’d like to wish all our partners, peace, prosperity and joyful celebrations.

Thanks again for the continuous support and the trust you place in Royal African Discoveries in taking care of your valuable clients.

We look forward to an exciting 2026!

 

Yours in Tourism

Johan