Hon. Shariff Ali Shariff, Minister of State in the President’s Office (Labour, Economy and Investment), officially opened Essence of Africa 2026 last night at Diamonds Bijoux, a Planhotel Hospitality Group hotel. Over three days, 178 pre-qualified international buyers from 40 countries are meeting 162 exhibiting companies, bringing an international travel trade audience to Zanzibar.

Speaking on behalf of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, the Minister said hosting Essence of Africa supports the islands’ plans to attract more international meetings and events. It also gives Zanzibar an opportunity to introduce its tourism products to buyers from established and emerging international markets

“Zanzibar is no longer just a destination for holidays,” he said. “We are also a destination for international conferences, business meetings, entertainment, cultural celebrations and global networking.”

Opened in February 2026, Diamonds Bijoux is a five-star, all-inclusive beachfront resort on Zanzibar’s southeast coast, between Bwejuu and Dongwe. Its conference facilities add to the island’s capacity to host international business events, while Essence of Africa gives Zanzibar an opportunity to demonstrate its appeal as a meetings destination.

The government also wants visitors to explore Zanzibar beyond its beaches, with a focus on culture, food, wellness, sports, and halal and family travel.

“We want visitors to come for our beaches, but stay longer for everything else Zanzibar has to offer,” said the Minister.

The push to diversify comes as Zanzibar records its highest visitor numbers to date. According to the Minister, the islands welcomed 917,167 international visitors in 2025, up approximately 24.5% on 2024. More than 633,000 arrived between January and August 2026, including a monthly record of more than 124,000 in August.

“Our ambition is not simply to welcome more visitors. It is to ensure that every visitor contributes more to our economy and that the benefits of tourism reach more of our people,” said the Minister.

The Minister also encouraged buyers and investors to look beyond Unguja, Zanzibar’s main island, to Pemba. He said the government plans to improve infrastructure and connectivity to attract investment in ecotourism, boutique resorts, wellness retreats and marine tourism, while preserving Pemba’s distinct character.

“We do not want Pemba to become another Unguja. We want it to develop its own identity and offer visitors something different,” he said.

Zanzibar air capacity set to grow 33%

Virginia Messina, CEO of ATTA®, the African Travel and Tourism Association, said airline seat capacity into Zanzibar had grown by more than 11% over the past year and was projected to increase by 33% over the next six months.

The figures, produced by ATTA® in partnership with The Data Appeal Company, also show that seat capacity across East Africa grew by 3.6% this summer, with long-haul capacity increasing by 7%. Messina welcomed British Airways’ announcement of a new service to Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar from May 2027.

“Growth alone cannot be our measure of success. We need the right policies and frameworks to turn growth into long-term value for destinations and communities, while protecting the very things that make Africa such a wonderful place,” she said.

Largest Essence of Africa to date

Essence of Africa is a private-sector-led initiative of On Show Solutions and ATTA®, bringing African tourism businesses together with the international buyers who sell the continent.

This third edition, following Nairobi in 2024 and Malindi, Kenya, in 2025, is the largest to date. It brings together 162 exhibiting companies, up 53% since the inaugural event, and 178 international buyers from 40 countries. Almost 75% of the buyers are attending for the first time. East African businesses account for 79% of exhibitors, while Europe is the largest buyer source region at 39%, followed by the Americas at 23% and Asia-Pacific at 19%.

Jacqui Reynolds, Co-Founder of Essence of Africa, said the forum was created to give African tourism businesses direct access to international buyers who could bring them new business.

Several buyers have already taken part in familiarisation trips around Zanzibar, giving them firsthand experience of the destination before meeting exhibitors. For local tourism businesses, the event offers an opportunity to build relationships with international buyers who could include Zanzibar in future travel programmes.

“Essence has never simply been about getting bigger,” said Reynolds. “It is about getting the right people into the room. It is about the quality of the conversations that happen over the next few days, the relationships that begin here, and ultimately the business that comes back to Africa as a result.”

Reynolds thanked the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar and the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism for helping bring the event to the island.

Essence of Africa 2026 runs at Diamonds Bijoux until 22 October.

Highlights include Market Buzz, where travel specialists will share insights from key international markets, sessions introducing buyers to Zanzibar’s tourism offering, and discussions on the environmental and community impact of tourism. Sports tourism will also feature, with an initiative involving Uganda’s Rwenzori Marathon.

The forum will officially open on 19 October at Diamonds Bijoux, with Zanzibar’s newly appointed Minister for Tourism and Heritage, Dr Nasra Nassor Omar, and her predecessor, Mudrik Ramadhan Soraga, expected as special guests. 

“Zanzibar’s tourism growth has been impressive, and we’re pleased to bring Essence of Africa here at a time when there’s so much interest in the destination,” says Amanda Margison, Co-Founder of Essence of Africa. “We’re honoured to welcome representatives of Zanzibar’s tourism sector and introduce our international travel partners to the people and businesses behind that success.”

Zanzibar takes centre stage

The content programme opens with Destination Zanzibar, sponsored by Profitroom. Moderated by Virginia Messina, Group CEO of ATTA®, the session will bring together representatives of the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism, Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority and ENVI Lodges to discuss tourism development, investment opportunities and how new tourism products can be brought to market.

“Zanzibar has long captured the imagination of international travellers with its turquoise waters, white sandy beaches and tropical charm,” says Hakeem Kimara, Head of Public Relations at the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism. “But beyond its celebrated coastline lies a destination offering far more: centuries of living history, authentic Swahili culture, exceptional culinary experiences, marine adventures and a growing portfolio of premium tourism products.

“For international tour operators, travel designers and luxury travel specialists attending Essence of Africa 2026, Zanzibar presents an opportunity to expand their product portfolios, reach different traveller segments and create memorable, high-value itineraries. Our message to travel buyers is simple: Zanzibar is not just a beach holiday. It is a complete travel experience waiting to be packaged, promoted and sold.”

Positive Impact explores tourism’s contribution to Zanzibar

Two Positive Impact sessions will introduce buyers to local businesses and organisations working to address environmental challenges and create opportunities for Zanzibar’s communities.

The first, sponsored by ResRequest and moderated by Joy Mbatau, Regional Hub Manager for East Africa at The Long Run, will feature Blue Impact Network, Chumbe Island, CHAKO Zanzibar and Msonge Organic Family Farm. The discussion will look at how tourism businesses are approaching conservation, waste management and local sourcing, and what their work means for the destination.

A second session, sponsored by SiteMinder, will introduce delegates to people behind some of Zanzibar’s local tourism experiences, looking at how these activities connect visitors with communities and contribute to local livelihoods.

Market Buzz brings international market insights to African suppliers

Market Buzz gives African tourism businesses the opportunity to hear directly from travel specialists selling African holidays in international and regional markets. Five sessions will examine changing customer demand, booking patterns and opportunities for African suppliers.

The Asia Pacific session, moderated by Rajay Singh, CEO of Safari Trails and Essence of Africa Advisory Panel member, will focus on India, China and Australia – discussing changing travel patterns, new demand and opportunities to attract repeat visitors.  

The Americas session will examine North America’s increasingly selective travellers and growing interest in Africa from Latin America. David DiGregorio of Re•think Travel Marketing and Andrea Landaeta of Sariri Terra will share their perspectives on these markets.

The Europe session, featuring Paddington Tucker of Travel Advance, will consider changing traveller expectations, pricing, sustainability and what African destinations need to do to remain competitive in one of their most established source regions.

The Middle East session, featuring Sadiq Dindar of AfriLuxe Tourism Advisory Services, will examine the different traveller segments within the region, including luxury and expatriate markets, and the role of air access and visas in converting interest into bookings.

The Africa session, moderated by Mohammed Hersi, Group Director of Operations at Pollmans Tours & Safaris and Essence of Africa Advisory Panel member, will focus on the potential of intra-African travel, bringing together perspectives from across the continent.

“Africa and the Middle East are often grouped together in tourism research, but they’re very different markets with different opportunities,” says Chris Mears, Co-Founder of Essence of Africa. “We’re really pleased to give Africa its own Market Buzz session this year. More Africans are travelling within the continent, and that’s an important market to develop, particularly as regional travel can help cushion destinations against global events that disrupt international tourism.”

Sports tourism offers opportunities for African destinations

With Africa preparing to host several major international sporting events, including the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, the 2027 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the 2029 World Athletics Championships in Nairobi, tourism businesses have opportunities to attract visiting fans and encourage them to explore the host destinations.

Essence of Africa has partnered with Uganda’s Rwenzori Marathon to introduce delegates to running tourism through a 5km beach walk and 10km beach run on Wednesday, 21 October, at 6am. Rwenzori Marathon founder and Essence of Africa Advisory Panel member Amos Wekesa will lead the event and share his experience of developing a sporting event that attracts international visitors.

Essence of Africa 2026 has 162 confirmed exhibitors, up 53% since the first edition, and 178 international buyers from 40 countries. Buyers come from Europe (39%), the Americas (23%), Asia Pacific (19%), Africa (18%) and the Middle East (2%). 75% are new to the forum, giving exhibitors access to new international trade contacts. Of the exhibitors, 79% are from East Africa and 21% from the rest of the continent. Accommodation providers make up the largest group (61%), alongside DMCs, tour operators, experience providers, transport providers and tourism bodies. Seventy-seven of the buyers are taking part in pre-show familiarisation trips across Zanzibar.

Quarter 4 was always going to be tricky. October through December is traditionally a busy stretch of the corporate travel calendar, with the year’s final stakeholder meetings, conferences and year-end events all squeezed in before the annual slowdown. At the same time, holidaymakers and international arrivals are competing for the same seats and rooms. For SMEs used to booking as and when they need to, record fuel prices on top of peak-season demand is a costly combination.

“Smaller businesses tend to have a smaller booking window when compared to larger corporates,” says Herman Heunes, GM at Corporate Traveller. “Multi-nationals, for example, typically require flights to be booked 21 days in advance, while SMEs are far more flexible and reactive. And they need to be, but in Q4 it can get expensive, especially against a backdrop of rising fuel prices.”

So how do you keep Q4 on track without the costs running away with you? Heunes has the following advice:

Book the trips you can already predict

Look at last year’s calendar. If your team went to Cape Town in November or Durban in December, they’ll probably go again. The message is simple: lock in fares now, before the best options – and flight times – sell out.

Of course, booking is often cash flow dependent, and Heunes says partnering with a strong travel management company (TMC) can make all the difference.

“SMEs don’t have the travel volume to negotiate good rates on their own,” he says. “A TMC does. Partnering with one gives you access to its buying power, so you benefit from negotiated rates with airlines, hotels and car rental companies that you wouldn’t get booking direct. On top of that, Corporate Traveller offers clients a credit facility, so you can book now and pay later, protecting your cash flow.”

Adopt a Total Trip Cost (TTC) mindset

The instinct when prices spike is to cut costs wherever possible: book the cheapest flight, cap hotel spend and push for budget stays. But the ticket price is only part of the picture. TTC adds in the ground transport, the lost working hours and the toll on the traveller (which is particularly important if your team’s already had a long year).

Take the classic Q4 compromise: a cheaper flight with a longer layover, paired with a hotel further from the city centre. The saving looks good on paper, but it often means a tired traveller, a taxi fare to and from an outlying hotel, and maybe a lounge visit to make the layover bearable. By the time you add it all up, the “cheaper” option often costs more, in money and morale.

“Always look at TTC rather than just ticket price,” says Heunes. “Paying slightly more for a flight or a hotel near a client’s office can deliver more in the long run. You avoid extra ground costs, and your team arrives on time and ready to work.”

Pay for flexibility where it counts

December work is inherently reactive. Stakeholder meetings run long, end-of-year event schedules can shift at the last minute, and unpredictable weather can easily disrupt itineraries. In fact, research shows that both travel managers and bookers consistently cite trip instability and the financial risk of non-refundable bookings as top concerns during peak seasons.

If a client meeting moves, even by a couple of hours, a “cheap” fare instantly loses its value, forcing you to buy a brand-new ticket at peak, last-minute prices. A flexible corporate fare costs a little more upfront but acts as an insurance policy, protecting the budget when plans inevitably change in Q4.

Book the car with the flight

Ground transport should never be an afterthought, yet it is often left to the last minute. In Q4, corporate demand coincides directly with the holiday rush and, interestingly, there are a few categories that sell out first, including minivans and 7+ seaters (important to note, if you’re transporting your team to an event), automatics (across all categories) and SUVs/4X4s. Get in quick, and ensure your travellers are enrolled in ‘fast-track’ or ‘skip-the-queue’ programmes, as any time saved during Q4 is a massive win.

Look after your people

Year-end fatigue is real, and it directly affects how travellers perform when they arrive.

“Put someone on a 06:00 flight with a long layover to save a few hundred rand, and they’ll just arrive feeling flat and exhausted,” says Heunes. “But it’s important to look at ground-level friction too. Negotiate early check-ins or late check-outs wherever possible and enquire about complimentary hotel shuttles. These ‘soft perks’ are incredibly difficult to secure on your own during peak season, but ask your TMC to work their magic.”

What to do now

“Most Q4 savings come from decisions made before the rush,” says Heunes. “An hour of planning this week will make a massive difference come December.”

Here are three things you can do immediately:

• Audit your ticket credits. Cancelled meetings throughout the year leave unused ticket credits sitting forgotten in inboxes until they expire. Check what’s there before you book anything new. A good TMC will track and apply these automatically, so check in with your travel manager to confirm.
• Pull your bookings from last year. If you have recurring meetings or events, lock in flights and rooms this week.
• If you have partnered with a TMC, let them do the heavy lifting. Be proactive, make travel decisions as soon as possible so they can leverage their buying power and supplier relationships to secure the best corporate fares and rates available – alongside perks like early check-in and room upgrades.

That growth comes with travel challenges that few operators plan for. iGaming teams travel to less predictable destinations than most industries, often at short notice, and frequently into markets where security is a real concern. Many companies are also scaling so quickly that travel management falls through the cracks, leaving them with little visibility over spend or where their people are. Jonathan Scott, Senior Account Manager at FCM, one of Flight Centre Travel Group’s corporate travel brands, explains what these challenges look like and how companies can get ahead of them.

Unpredictable destinations, changing needs

Take mining, one of Africa’s traditional growth engines. “Mining travellers generally move between asset locations for a fixed, predictable reason,” says Scott. “iGaming travellers, on the other hand, are likely to travel to a wider range of often unusual destinations, driven by changing needs such as where a gaming licence is being tested or renewed.”

This makes for a restless travel pattern, one that follows regulators, partners and new markets rather than a fixed map. As a result, says Scott, these travellers “tend to be more open to exploring different options and routings.”

iGaming also sits firmly in the tech and fintech space, and its travellers behave that way. “We see travellers in these industries wanting to use technology when booking, for added efficiency and control over their planning,” says Scott. “They favour AI and mobile apps to keep them alerted and organised throughout their journeys.”

For the companies themselves, visibility matters just as much. Because travel in the sector is often unpredictable and unplanned, real-time data and reporting are essential for keeping track of spend and compliance.

When growth outpaces the travel plan

iGaming businesses can scale remarkably fast, and travel is usually the last thing anyone thinks about. “That’s the problem,” says Scott. “A startup with 20 travellers can book their own travel their own way, and that’s fine. But when that number becomes 200 and there’s no consolidated plan in place, you have no visibility of spend or travel behaviour, no duty of care measures for tracking and keeping travellers safe, and your travel is so diluted that you lose negotiating power for better rates.”

The first step, he says, is finding out what’s really happening. “Who’s booking where, and what’s actually being spent? There’s usually a big gap between that and what finance thinks. You can’t fix what you can’t see.”

From there, the work is to bring bookings onto one platform, build a travel policy around how the business actually operates, and automate approvals. “It’s never one-size-fits-all,” says Scott. “It needs to be flexible enough to move fast but structured enough that finance isn’t chasing exceptions every week.” Once that’s in place, dashboards showing spend by region and department give companies leverage for better rates and let them “forecast more accurately.”

The need for speed

In an industry where a licence deadline or a market launch can’t wait, many companies assume a consolidated programme will slow them down. Scott argues the opposite. “A messy, fragmented programme is what actually slows you down when speed matters. If the policy is already built and everyone knows the parameters, there’s more room for auto-approval. No waiting on a manager to sign off every booking.”

iGaming doesn’t keep office hours, so travel support needs to run around the clock too. Knowing where travellers are at all times matters just as much. “If a flight is cancelled or something happens, you need to be able to react immediately,” says Scott. “Without consolidation, ‘drop everything and go’ just becomes ‘drop everything and hope someone gets back to you.'”

Protecting traveller data matters too, in a sector where information security is everything.

Keeping executives safe in emerging markets

Many of iGaming’s fastest-growing markets are also where duty of care is most complex. “When executives are carrying sensitive IP or negotiating high-value deals in places like Lagos or Nairobi, duty of care can’t just mean knowing what hotel they’re in,” says Scott. “It means thinking through everything that could go wrong before they’ve even boarded the plane.”

That starts with current pre-trip intelligence on the political climate, unrest or border changes that week, rather than information from an outdated report. It also means vetted ground transport. “The twenty minutes between landing and reaching somewhere secure is often the highest-risk window,” says Scott. For executives who need to keep a low profile, that can mean quieter hotels and less predictable schedules, “so sensitive business doesn’t come with an obvious target attached.” Medical and evacuation plans should be built around the specific city rather than a whole region, and real-time tracking should be paired with local knowledge. “If unrest is building somewhere, we often know before it hits international news,” he says.

Europe’s border rules have shifted again. On 14 September, nine European countries were told they could keep easing the EU’s new biometric border checks, a week after the grace period was meant to end. It follows months of long queues at some of Europe’s busiest airports.

For South African passport holders, the border has never been simple: visa applications, supporting documents and paperwork are part of almost every long-haul trip. What’s new is how quickly the rules are moving, and how easily a traveller can arrive at the airport with last month’s information.

Europe: new checks, patchy enforcement

The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) went live on 12 October 2025, replacing the passport stamp with a digital record of every non-EU short-stay traveller’s entries and exits. On their first visit, travellers register their fingerprints, a facial image and passport details at the border. South Africans are included, even if they already hold a valid Schengen visa.

The rollout has been rocky. According to Airports Council International, waits at some European airports reached up to five hours in July, with Lisbon, Milan, Rome and Krakow amongst the worst affected. Faulty kiosks, staff shortages and issues with biometric registration were blamed.

The emergency rules that let countries pause the checks at busy times were due to end on 6 September. Instead, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Switzerland have been given informal approval to keep using them, with no new deadline set. France says it will do so until the end of the year. The result is a patchwork: the experience at one airport, or in one month, may be quite different from the next.

Sinenhlanhla Mthembu, Senior Account Manager at FCM, says that fortunately none of her clients have yet missed a connection or had a trip seriously disrupted by the new checks, partly because corporate itineraries already tend to allow extra time. “There is often a preference for more conservative connection times, particularly when the journey involves immigration or a transfer through a major European hub,” she explains.

Closing the awareness gap

 Travel readiness depends heavily on the traveller. Some clients are behind, while others are well ahead: one company whose staff travel regularly to Geneva asked Mthembu to brief  them extensively on what EES means in practice. “There is still a strong preference amongst corporate travel programmes to use their TMC as a trusted source to interpret these changes and translate them into practical travel advice,” she says.

Outside dedicated travel teams, awareness is lower. “Realistically, most corporate clients are not asking proactively before booking,” says Za Nkosi, FCM Operations Manager. Questions tend to come just before departure, when a traveller sees a news report and asks their booker, “Do I need to do anything different at the airport?”, or after something has gone wrong, “when someone’s had a long queue or missed a connection and wants to know why nobody warned them.”

This is where a travel management company earns its place: flagging changes before travellers think to ask, and listing the current entry requirements with each booking. The aim is not to steer travellers away from particular airports, but to build flexibility into the itinerary. “A missed connection can have a knock-on effect on meetings, accommodation and the wider trip schedule,” says Mthembu.

Closer to home

The rules are changing in South Africa too. Since 1 July 2026, everyone entering or leaving the country, residents included, has been required to complete an online traveller declaration through the South African Traveller Management System (SATMS), via the SARS portal, the mobile app or a QR code. SARS encourages travellers to submit it before they reach the airport, although no one will be turned away for not having done so. South Africa has also launched an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for inbound visitors, which matters for companies hosting international colleagues or clients.

In Kenya, a mandatory health insurance requirement for foreign visitors was introduced, then suspended by the High Court while the case is heard. “For a corporate traveller, the practical lesson is that even when a requirement appears settled, its status can change,” says Mthembu.

Make the check routine

“We need to communicate proactively with travellers before departure rather than waiting for them to ask, and treat border processing time as a variable to plan around,” says Nkosi.

Mthembu recommends a simple “before I travel” check for every trip, whether a traveller flies four times a month or once a year. Before confirming, check three things: what documents or authorisations are needed, whether there are health or entry requirements, and whether the itinerary allows enough time for connections and border processing. Length of stay matters too, as some destinations apply different rules depending on the duration or purpose of the visit.

“The key is not to make travel preparation complicated,” she says. “A few minutes spent checking the current requirements before departure can prevent a much bigger problem at check-in, at the border or during the journey.”

People are becoming increasingly obsessed with the science of sleep. Smartwatches and rings track both sleep stages – light, deep, REM – and sleep quality; wellness schemes like Discovery Vitality encourage and reward it; and supplements promise it in a bottle. Sleep tourism, meanwhile, is one of 2026’s defining luxury travel trends, with hotels building entire itineraries around a good night’s rest.

It’s great news for business travellers. Especially as recent Booking.com data shows that roughly 60% of business travellers report some level of sleep disruption on the road, driven partly by the “first night effect” – the brain staying semi-alert in unfamiliar surroundings – and worsened by ambient noise, uncomfortable beds and rooms that run too hot or too cold.

For Herman Heunes, GM at Corporate Traveller South Africa, the sleep conversation is just as important as, if not more important than, discussions around flight classes.

“Travellers spend 8 to 12 hours on an airplane and a few days in a hotel. Obviously, a lie-flat seat on a plane makes a difference, but a good sleep environment at a hotel, including heavy drapes or block-out blinds, cool temperatures and acoustic insulation, is priceless,” says Heunes.

What “sleep-friendly” actually looks like

While you may have heard of sleep or pillow menus – where guests can choose from a selection of pillows (including soft, medium, firm, hypoallergenic or memory foam), the fundamentals are less glamorous: darkness, quiet, temperature control, comfortable bedding and enough uninterrupted time to sleep.

Sleep-friendly hotels have actually re-engineered their rooms to make sure they measure up, including commercial blackout curtain systems, soundproofing (because lifts, housekeeping stations, kitchens, function venues, loading bays and rooftop equipment can all create intermittent noise) and consistent climate control.

From pillow menus to sleep menus

Hotels are expanding their sleep offerings to include calming teas, lighter evening meals and snacks suited to late arrivals.

For example, Westin Hotels and Resorts’ global Sleep Well Programme centres on the brand’s Heavenly Bed – a custom pillow-top mattress with layered bedding and down pillows – alongside a bedside lavender balm to calm the senses, and a Sleep Well Menu for in-room dining built around amino acids and vitamins linked to better sleep.

Four Seasons has developed a customisable bed with mattress-topper preferences at participating properties, including Four Seasons Hotel The Westcliff Johannesburg. These mattress toppers (with three distinct levels of firmness) can be swapped out by hotel staff in a matter of minutes to match a guest’s specific preferences.

The red-eye problem

Of course, none of this helps if a traveller lands at 05:00 but can’t access a room until 14:00. Standard check-in windows were never designed around overnight flights, and “early check-in requested” is not the same as guaranteed early access – it simply means the hotel will help if a room happens to be available.

This is where a travel management company (TMC) earns its keep. As Heunes explains, the most dependable options are booking the room from the previous night, flagging the traveller’s arrival time so the room isn’t released as a no-show, negotiating guaranteed early access into the corporate rate, reserving a day-use room, or confirming showers, lounge access and luggage storage as a fallback.

“Chat to your TMC about negotiating early check-in or late check-out as part of your hotel programme,” says Heunes. “If you don’t have a TMC or hotel programme, consider booking an additional night. It may look wasteful on a spreadsheet, but it can be a sensible investment before a negotiation, presentation or other high-value meeting. A good TMC will identify potential issues, like an unfriendly arrival time, ahead of time and suggest practical solutions rather than leaving the traveller to negotiate at reception.”

A handful of hotel groups are ahead of the curve, but mostly for elite loyalty members: Marriott Bonvoy Ambassadors get “Your24”, a self-chosen 24-hour check-in/check-out window; IHG Platinum and Diamond Elite members get early check-in (subject to availability); and World of Hyatt Globalists get a guaranteed 4pm check-out. The catch is that none of this helps an SME traveller booking direct with no status to leverage – but TMCs can help.

Jet lag is only part of the problem

Not every exhausted traveller is jet-lagged. Jet lag is a temporary sleep disorder that happens when your body’s internal clock is out of sync with a new time zone; sleep deprivation simply means you have not slept enough.

To counter this, travellers and TMCs should ask for:

• Full-blackout curtains
• A room away from lifts, functions and street noise
• Individually controlled air-conditioning
• Suitable pillow and bedding options
• Guaranteed rather than requested early check-in
• Late-night food or early breakfast
• Reliable airport transfers
• Day-use or shower facilities if the room is unavailable

These preferences can be stored in traveller profiles and used when selecting preferred hotels.

“Companies should also track traveller feedback on noise, darkness, temperature and early room access, not only room rates, Wi-Fi and breakfast,” says Heunes. “Direct feedback from travellers is gold.”

For SMMEs, prioritising sleep on the road doesn’t require a bigger budget. In fact, Heunes keeps the checklist short: identify the right hotels, confirm blackout curtains, soundproofing and privacy, ask whether a pillow or sleep menu exists, and secure early check-in at the booking stage for any red-eye arrivals.

“Many hotels have done the hard part,” says Heunes. “The average room is quieter, darker and better designed than it’s ever been. What’s left is choosing the right flight, class and ground transport to get your people there – prioritising ease and rest from end to end.”

Carmen Hidalgo, Customer Success Team Leader at Corporate Traveller South Africa, says the framing is where most people go wrong.

“The biggest misconception is that lounge access is a luxury perk,” she says. “For frequent business travellers, it’s a practical tool, one that cuts travel fatigue, improves comfort during delays and helps you make better, more productive use of time spent in airports.”

Once you see the lounge as a high-functioning co-working space, and a chance to rest and breathe, things start to look a little different.

When it makes financial sense

For business travellers, the most common options are lounge memberships such as Priority Pass, airline loyalty programmes, purchasing day passes as needed, or accessing lounges through corporate travel agreements and company credit cards. For occasional travellers, day passes are often the most cost-effective. For more frequent travellers, membership programmes generally provide better value over time.

Hidalgo believes that if a traveller is flying every month or making 10-15+ lounge visits a year, a membership or bundled access option starts making more financial sense than buying day passes ad hoc.

Of course, it also helps to know what the passes cost. Walk-in rates at the general-access lounges, Bidvest among them, run from about R300 to R700 a visit, while premium co-branded bank lounges (like SLOW) do not allow general walk-ins and instead require specific bank card tiers or partner programmes.

The door price is only part of the calculation, though. What you’re really paying for is the quiet productivity of a well-considered space.

“The biggest value is in reliable connectivity, comfortable seating, charging facilities, a quieter working environment and complimentary refreshments. These are the features that help business travellers stay productive,” says Hidalgo. “The high-end touches like spa treatments or shower facilities are nice to have, but they’re rarely the reason an SME traveller sees a return on investment.”

That return is easiest to see when things go wrong: your flight is pushed back, your phone needs a charge and the terminal is heaving. You can brave a noisy coffee shop, or move to the lounge, plug in and clear your inbox before you fly. Six or seven trips a year can easily add up to the better part of three working days in airports, and lounge access gives you some of that time back.

A lounge reality check, and how to maximise your time

While lounges were once a quiet refuge for the select few, premium credit cards have thrown open the doors. Now lounges across the world are coming under fire for snaking queues and crowded floors, especially over peak periods. To control numbers, operators have pushed back with restrictions: entry windows that open only a few hours before departure, higher walk-in rates, caps on guests per cardholder and, in some cases, a charge to pre-book a seat. All of it chips at the overall experience, and it’s fair to ask whether a busy lounge is now simply a glorified waiting room.

Hidalgo doesn’t dodge the point. “Overcrowding has reduced some of the productivity benefits travellers used to expect,” she says. “So, we tell clients to treat lounge access as one part of the trip, not the whole experience. And you do need to be intentional about it.”

As Hidalgo explains, customers commonly allow lounge access for frequent travellers, longer layovers, delays, or trips where employees are travelling directly into meetings. The objective should be helping travellers make the best use of their time while maintaining sensible cost control.

“A managed travel programme gives businesses greater visibility and control over traveller benefits, including lounge access,” she says. “Depending on the programme, access may be linked to negotiated supplier agreements, traveller status, or internal travel policy guidelines. The best travel policies treat lounge access as a structured and managed benefit rather than an ad hoc traveller expense.”

When it comes to maximising your lounge experience, a few simple steps make a big difference:

• Check in before you arrive. Use the airline app and travel with hand luggage where you can, so you clear the landside queues and head straight through security to the lounge.
• Mind the fine print. Some lounges, SLOW among them, only let you in 90 minutes before boarding a domestic flight, while international departure lounges have different windows (for example, three hours before boarding).
• Don’t overlook arrival lounges. At the bigger hubs you can shower and press a suit after a red-eye before walking into a client meeting.
• Use the Wi-Fi for the heavy lifting. The private network will carry a video call or a large upload that terminal signal tends to drop.
• Find the quiet corners. Phone booths and work suites, where they exist, are for the calls and pitch prep you’d rather not have overheard.
• Eat before you board. A proper meal in the lounge frees the flight itself for sleep or focused offline work.
• Claim a plug early. Grab a seat near a charging point and get everything topped up before you leave, so you land ready to go.
• Check what else is included. Many lounges offer showers, printing or a fast-track security lane, so it’s worth knowing what your access covers before you pay for it elsewhere.

So, is it worth it?

For all the grumbling about crowds and cost, most travellers still answer yes. Airport Dimensions’ Airport Experience 2025 study, which surveyed more than 10,000 regular flyers worldwide, found that 97% were unwilling to give up their lounge access, and 45% would switch banks to keep card-linked lounge privileges. With terminals busier than ever, 62% said they would pay for premium services to get some breathing room, treating the lounge as a travel essential.

The top end of the market is reading the same signal and spending accordingly. Etihad’s First Class Lounge and Spa in Abu Dhabi has a gym with cardio machines and weights; Finnair’s Platinum Wing in Helsinki runs a traditional Finnish sauna; and from September 2027, San Francisco International will offer private bedrooms, showers and a speakeasy for travellers waiting out a long layover.

For most business travellers, though, the appeal is more grounded. “They can be impressive,” says Hidalgo of the flashier offerings, “although most business travellers still place the highest value on quiet spaces, comfort and the ability to work efficiently.”

Search “hotel safety tips” and women across the web have plenty to share: packing a rubber doorstop to wedge under the door at night; choosing a room between the third and sixth floors; selecting hotels with lifts that need key card access to reach the guest floors; asking reception to hand over the key quietly, without calling out the room number for everyone to hear.

It’s an unfortunate reality. Either consciously or subconsciously, women move through life on high alert, aware of their surroundings and safety – especially when travelling on their own or in unfamiliar destinations.

As Judy Jacobs, Senior Account Manager at FCM South Africa, explains, safety on a business trip, especially for women, isn’t a nice-to-have that sits somewhere below room rate and location; it’s at the very top of the list, and an important part of any hotel programme.

“Both hotel location and room location come up often,” says Jacobs. “The preference is for a mid-level floor, near a lift but not right beside it, and avoiding a stairwell or the end of a long corridor. Once inside the room, the requests are practical: a safe large enough for a laptop, blackout curtains that close fully, and no interleading door, which many women find unsettling.”

What women want

According to the team at FCM, these hotel features are important:

• Reputable chains in safe locations
• Well-lit paths from the car park to the entrance, with no dark stretches within the property
• A genuine 24-hour staffed front desk rather than a night porter (where possible)
• Female staff on duty
• Key card room access
• A room between the 3^rd and 6^th floors (high enough to prevent break-ins from the ground – but within reach of a standard fire truck in case of emergency)
• A working peephole and a secondary lock, swing bar or security chain on the door
• An in-room safe big enough to hold a laptop
• Blackout curtains or blinds that close completely
• No interleading door, or one that locks securely from both sides

Building it into travel policy

Of course, a hotel should meet other standards too, including emergency procedures clearly displayed in rooms, working smoke detectors and fire safety equipment, CCTV in public areas and entrances, and security guards on the premises. The trick is building it into your travel policy.

“Many of our customers, for example, those in the mining sector, have stringent travel, safety, and duty-of-care standards. These non-negotiable requirements directly influence which hotel and accommodation suppliers are considered suitable for their travellers,” says Saskia Fourie, Account Manager at FCM South Africa. “Wherever possible, we also encourage the use of our preferred hotel partners. While these partnerships offer commercial benefits, the bigger advantage is that the properties have already undergone a degree of vetting and due diligence. We have established relationships with these suppliers, understand their standards, and have clear escalation channels should issues arise. This level of familiarity and accountability enables us to better support our customers, ensure compliance with their travel and safety policies, and provide travellers with a safe and consistent experience.”

Regional knowledge is also important. For example, key card-only lift and floor access is standard in large city hotels but not always feasible elsewhere. The same goes for monitored rather than merely recorded CCTV. A good travel management company will know which standards a hotel in a given location can realistically deliver – and how to spot the red flags.

For Jacobs, these might be dismissive responses to security questions, “that’s never happened here” deflection, inconsistent messaging from staff, or common areas that feel poorly lit, unmaintained or deserted at night.

“Thankfully, there are plenty of green flags too. For example, visible but not intrusive security; staff who share direct ‘in-case-of-emergency’ telephone numbers; staff who are quick to respond to a guest’s requests or concerns; and other business travellers staying in the hotel, which demonstrates corporate confidence,” says Jacobs.

Asking the right questions

When negotiating a hotel agreement, you need to ask the right questions: What is the hotel’s protocol if a guest reports feeling unsafe or harassed, and how quickly does it respond? How does the property keep the guest’s information secure (including floor and room number)? What background checks are run on staff, particularly night and maintenance teams who can access rooms? And can room assignments avoid predictable patterns, such as always placing solo travellers in the same wing?

The strongest programmes then go a step further and put agreements in writing. These might include the right to change rooms at no charge if a traveller feels unsafe, and a set window in which any incident is reported to the company or its TMC. As Jacobs puts it, “It’s easy to assume a hotel or chain’s standards cover this, but having it contractually documented gives us recourse and shows the hotel we’re serious.”

Finally, listen to your travellers.

As Nomapelo Kova, Senior Account Manager at FCM South Africa, points out, the people using your hotel programme are the ones best placed to tell you whether it is working. “The most valuable feedback often comes directly from travellers themselves,” she says. “They experience a hotel’s safety and security first-hand, so listening to them, and acting on what they say, is how a hotel programme stays up to date, reliable and safe.”

It’s evidence of an invisible itinerary: the planning, coordination and caregiving responsibilities that happen behind the scenes, before a single flight is booked. Think school runs and lift clubs, dog walks and vet visits, stocked fridges and pre-cooked meals, medication schedules for elderly parents or kids, emergency contacts briefed well in advance, and detailed instructions so everything runs like a military operation.

Gen X and older Millennials, in particular, feel the strain. The modern “sandwich generation” find themselves juggling dual caregiving responsibilities that directly impact professional obligations, including work travel.

The encouraging part of the research is what follows – clear evidence that the right organisational support and policies ease the load and support traveller health and wellbeing.

“The first fix is making sure every trip has a clear purpose, for the business and for the traveller,” says Elize De Jager, Operations Team Leader at Corporate Traveller South Africa, a global travel management company (TMC) that specialises in providing tailored business travel services to small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). 

“It’s a principle that matters for any company watching its travel spend, particularly SMEs, but it carries extra weight for the person weighing up whether a trip is worth the disruption at home. Few will say that part out loud, though. Admitting to the caregiving and coordination happening behind the scenes takes a genuinely safe workplace, and not everyone has one. In the wrong environment, the cost of staying quiet can be steep: with women turning down worthwhile trips – for their personal development, career and for the business itself – simply because of what’s happening at home. That’s not ideal.”

Better policies and systems

De Jager’s view is a practical one: the fix isn’t asking people to share more about what they’re carrying. Visibility only helps, she says, if a workplace receives it well – and in the wrong culture, disclosing too much too soon can do more harm than good. Instead, it’s about fixing outdated policies.

“Some workplaces can feel as if they’re structured around an imaginary worker who has no caregiving responsibilities and unlimited availability,” she says. “That person is increasingly rare – and was probably never the norm.”

Douglas’s research with the University of Pretoria touches on how important organisational support is when it comes to traveller wellness and wellbeing. Put simply, higher levels of organisational support lead to higher levels of employee engagement. This could mean offering employees an opportunity to recover after a trip; providing the necessary training and coaching ahead of key trips (including cultural awareness guidance, which can help travellers navigate unfamiliar environments with greater confidence and reduce unnecessary risk); allowing more comfortable travel (including premium economy or business class for long-haul flights); and ensuring that all the travel arrangements run smoothly. And of course, this shouldn’t just be understood – it should be written into policy.

De Jager says this might include:

• Giving travellers a say in flight timing, particularly for early departures or late arrivals.
• Giving travellers a choice in ground transport, i.e. a pre-booked shuttle or transfer instead of defaulting to the cheapest option, especially after dark.
• Choosing accommodation with safety in mind, including 24-hour reception, security and security cameras, key-card access to lifts, safe locations and positive reviews.
• Building in recovery time after long trips, rather than an immediate return to a full schedule.
• Canvassing cross-departmental input into policy design, so travel policy reflects real working lives.
• Flexibility to extend a trip so the family can join, where workable. Excursions, outings and leisure activities all play a role in employee morale and satisfaction.

For De Jager, none of these are radical. They’re achievable, and TMCs can help draft the policies, vet accommodation and transport suppliers, and negotiate corporate rates to help make it happen.

Closing the gaps

“A policy that books the cheapest available flight without factoring in who’s collecting children from school or covering an elderly parent’s evening care, isn’t neutral; it simply shifts a cost from the balance sheet onto the traveller’s household,” says Christelle Louw, Operations Team Leader at Corporate Traveller and mother of three.

“Companies must recognise that women bear a disproportionate share of caregiving,” says Louw. “But many men are caregivers too. If HR policies are routinely built around flexibility, and reflect the realities of the world today, it becomes a choice for everyone – not a special favour for a woman in a man’s world.”

This Women’s Day, the business case is simple: sustainable corporate travel is fair, flexible and designed for real life and real people.

Behind that confidence is a sustained programme of industrial development, backed by public infrastructure investment, special economic zone incentives and private capital. The Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone has R252 billion in pipeline investment across 23 investors, according to the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. Among the flagship developments is Nyanza Light Metals’ R15 billion titanium dioxide pigment plant. Construction is already under way and is expected to create around 3,000 jobs before employing up to 850 people permanently. Richards Bay is also positioning itself as an energy hub, with a liquefied natural gas import terminal, new power stations and supporting infrastructure representing almost R100 billion in additional investment.

Projects on this scale bring a steady stream of engineers, contractors, consultants, financiers and government officials into the city, some for a few days, others returning repeatedly as work progresses. According to André de Klerk, General Manager of BON Hotel Waterfront Richards Bay, this is translating into increasingly consistent business travel demand.

“We don’t have a high and low season like a typical leisure destination,” he says. “Our business follows industrial activity. Occupancy rises when a plant shuts down for maintenance, a delegation is in town, or a major project reaches a milestone. When that activity slows, so do we. Right now, we’re in one of our busier periods and we have been for some time.”

That level of demand has taken years to rebuild. Richards Bay’s hospitality sector was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and just as recovery began, the July 2021 unrest in KwaZulu-Natal dealt another blow. De Klerk says the hotel had to rebuild its room rates from a much lower base, with several years spent simply recovering lost ground before new investment started driving demand rather than just restoring it.

“There have already been weeks where you couldn’t find a room in this town because two or three projects needed people here at the same time,” he says. “That didn’t used to happen.”

De Klerk emphasised the hotel’s booking window reflects the same industrial rhythm. During busy periods, guests typically book around a week in advance. At quieter times, bookings are made just four days before arrival, tied to project schedules or maintenance shutdowns.

The mix of guests checking in is changing alongside the volume. “The executive flying up from Johannesburg for a two-day meeting is only part of the picture now,” De Klerk says. “We’re welcoming metallurgical engineers overseeing technology transfer, project finance teams from Johannesburg and Nairobi, government delegations, environmental consultants, construction managers and representatives from development finance institutions. Some are here for a few days. Others stay for the duration of a project, with contracts that can run for several months.”

The hotel’s guests arrive from Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, largely to support engineering, mining, logistics and infrastructure projects, while domestic business travellers provide a reliable year-round base. De Klerk says repeat business is the clearest sign of that consistency, with companies returning on standing accounts for maintenance work, site visits and ongoing projects.

BON Hotels Group CEO Guy Stehlik says Richards Bay stands out against the other secondary cities where the company operates, across South Africa and West Africa. “Corporate demand is rarely the issue in these secondary cities. The infrastructure around it usually is,” he says. “Failing infrastructure is the constraint we run into most often outside the metros. Richards Bay is the exception. Given the scale of investment going into the IDZ, it’s no surprise it works as well as it does. If anything, it’s the market the rest of these cities could  be measured against.”

BON Hotel Waterfront Richards Bay has refurbished its guest rooms, public areas, restaurant and conferencing facilities to keep pace with demand. Its largest venue seats around 120 delegates, with most bookings coming from technical workshops, project briefings and training sessions.

Much of the investment pipeline has yet to move from planning into delivery. Stehlik believes the opportunities will extend well beyond the industrial sector. “Richards Bay has always had the industrial base. What’s changing is the consistency of business travel around it. As more investment moves from planning into delivery, we’ll see more people travelling to the city, staying longer and returning more often. That creates the kind of demand that gives airlines, hotels and the wider visitor economy the confidence to invest.”