Unlocking South Africa’s tourism potential will depend on a more flexible, data-driven and regionally coordinated approach across the tourism value chain. This was the message from aviation, accommodation, car hire and cruise sector leaders during a panel on Tourism Outlook 2025 and Beyond at the 2025 edition of the TBCSA Leadership Conference.
Ramasela Ganda, Group CEO of Zeda, said the company’s car hire and leasing businesses are adapting to serve domestic and inbound markets through partnerships and innovation. She highlighted collaborations with e-hailing platforms and start-ups like Flextop.
Data must be at the core of future tourism strategies, particularly for pricing, she added. “The days of a standard price for everybody else are over. Prices nowadays are dynamic and individual,” Ganda said. By tailoring offers through predictive analytics, operators could better meet inbound demand and seasonal fluctuations.
The evolution of hospitality
Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo, COO of City Lodge Hotels, said accommodation must evolve alongside changing traveller preferences. During COVID-19, the group introduced AI-driven ovens to streamline operations – a small but telling example of adopting technology to remain resilient. Current refurbishments are designed to reflect local culture and heritage, aligning with inbound travellers’ desire for authenticity.
Regarding skills, she said the sector should anticipate future workforce needs. “Gone are the days of your front office manager. We’ll be looking at hospitality AI specialists and virtual travel experience designers. Why are we not projecting the future jobs we need?”
Cruising and aviation
Cruising represents a growing segment for tourism but Ross Volk, MD of MSC Cruises South Africa, said we must avoid focusing on infrastructure alone. “I can have the best port in the world but, if I’ve got nowhere to take 6 000 people, I’ve got nothing. All I have is a white elephant.”
Volk called for an integrated approach linking ports to transport, accommodation and local communities. Drawing on Jamaica as a case study, he noted that dispersing visitors into surrounding areas allowed local enterprises to benefit while improving the overall traveller experience.
He also stressed the need for a regional cruise strategy, pointing out: “Africa has the longest coastline of any continent yet the number of viable ports can be counted on one hand. We need an integrated regional solution”.
Kirby Gordon, CMO of FlySafair, said: “As an industry, we are small and we need to find our economies of scale – not as a single company but as a collective.”
Gordon said AI offers opportunities for predictive analytics, route planning and operational efficiency but urged that gains could only be unlocked through joint efforts between airlines, airports, tourism bodies and government.
