Johannesburg – When a health crisis makes the news, the first instinct is either to cancel everything or to carry on as normal. Neither serve you very well.  Instead, start with five questions, asked before departure, not after something goes wrong.

1.Will my travel insurance actually cover this trip?

As Herman Heunes, GM of Corporate Traveller South Africa, explains, travel advisories can impact your trip cover.

“If you travel to a destination against official government ‘Do Not Travel’ warnings, insurers typically void your coverage for trip cancellations and medical emergencies related to the advisory,” says Hunes.

The timing matters too. Many insurers look at when the advisory was issued relative to when you bought your policy. If a severe advisory is issued before you booked your trip or purchased insurance, coverage is usually nullified.

“The advisory level at the time of departure determines a lot,” says Heunes. “Travellers who fly to a destination under an active advisory without checking their policy first can find themselves personally liable for medical, evacuation and repatriation costs that run into the hundreds of thousands.”

It’s an easy fix. Call your insurer or ask your travel management company (TMC) to confirm your specific cover before you book. Not after. And while you’re at it, also confirm whether your destination has any health entry requirements – including vaccinations or screening on arrival – and how your organisation will cover those costs.

2.Does my company actually know where I am?

A travel request form is not a tracking system. In a fast-moving health crisis, the difference between a company that knows you’re in a specific hotel in a specific city on a specific day and one that has you logged as “travelling in the DRC” is significant – and that gap can mean the difference between a swift evacuation and a delayed one.

Larger travel programmes have risk platforms that do this automatically. Many small to medium programmes don’t. If yours falls into the second category, ask your TMC what visibility they have (centralised booking systems and up-to-date traveller profiles make a big difference) – and what needs to happen before you fly.

Importantly, says Heunes, ask your team to register your trip with DIRCO. South Africa’s official travel registration system ensures the government knows you’re in a country if a coordinated evacuation needs to take place. It takes five minutes and costs nothing.

3.What is the health picture in the city I’m visiting?

Country-level warnings are a starting point, not the full story. An outbreak in a border province carries a different risk to one in a capital city with functioning health infrastructure, and a blanket advisory can make a safe trip look dangerous – and vice versa.

Your TMC should be able to provide destination-specific intelligence in addition to the government advisory. That’s where a global network makes a tangible difference.

“Partnering with a TMC that has a global footprint means you can access current, on-the-ground information and local support whenever you need it,” says Heunes. “Networks are a powerful advantage when it comes to duty of care.”

4.If the situation escalates and borders close mid-trip, what is the protocol?

Not “we’ll handle it” – the specific protocol. Who initiates the evacuation process in your organisation? Does your travel agent or TMC have a 24/7 emergency support line? Do you even have the number to call?

“The companies that manage crises well have done the thinking before the crisis, not during it,” says Heunes. “For smaller travel programmes, this is where a good TMC earns its keep – having those protocols already in place, already tested, so the traveller isn’t piecing it together from a hotel room.”

If your programme doesn’t have a documented escalation process, ask your TMC to walk you through what would actually happen, step by step. The answer will tell you a lot.

5.Can I leave early if I feel unsafe … and who covers the cost?

Fare flexibility is rarely top of mind when booking, but it becomes critical fast when a situation deteriorates. Many corporate fares, particularly at the economy end where SME travel budgets live, carry change fees or restrictions that make early departure expensive.

It’s also worth clarifying upfront who has the authority to make the call – whether the decision to abort a trip rests with you, your line manager, or someone further up the chain. In a crisis that moves fast, that ambiguity costs time.

Before you fly, confirm whether your ticket allows for early return, whether your company will cover the cost difference, and whether your insurance includes trip curtailment. If the answer to all three is yes, you can travel with genuine confidence. If not, at least you know what you’re walking into.

“Business travel is how small and medium businesses compete,” says Heunes. “It’s how you close deals, build relationships and show up in markets where presence still matters. The goal is never to stop travelling; it’s to travel in a way that’s informed, protected and sustainable. Ask the right questions before you fly, and you can do exactly that.”

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Johannesburg – Travel buyers and travel managers are, once again, navigating interesting times. The Middle East crisis has meant new routes, new hubs and a renewed focus on duty of care. Volatile oil prices and capacity constraints are squeezing costs at the same time. Travellers themselves are warier than they were a year ago, and the journeys they are being asked to take are often longer, with more stopovers and less margin for error.

Against that backdrop, travel perks carry more weight than usual. A flat bed, a lounge shower and a late checkout matter more when you have just flown an extra five hours via a new connection.

What makes this moment especially interesting is the picture sitting just behind it.

Before tensions escalated in February, airlines were betting big on premium economy and business class cabins – overhauling their fleets and offering passengers more space, connectivity, state-of-the-art inflight entertainment and, in some cases, hotel-like privacy. Hotels themselves are pouring investment into luxury and lifestyle properties, with the global luxury hotel market forecast by Skift to more than double to $369 billion by 2032.

All while travel programmes are balancing safety and traveller wellbeing against value and cost management. Competing priorities, all playing out in the small print of what your company will and won’t cover.

The airline perks you might not know about

Status used to mean miles flown. Today, it increasingly means money spent. As The Points Guy puts it, the “hamster wheel” of chasing flights is being replaced by credit card spend, shopping and bookings through an airline’s network of partners (including car rentals) rather than simply bums in seats. 

The perks are varied too – many unseen and underused. Most major programmes now let you extend priority boarding to companions, share lounge access with a plus-one, and occasionally use complimentary upgrades on partner airlines. Lounge access through the right credit card sits in the same category: a perk most eligible travellers underuse.

The biggest unseen perk, though, is corporate. As Herman Heunes, GM of Corporate Traveller South Africa explains, two passengers in the same business class cabin may have paid wildly different fares, depending on how the corporate fares were negotiated behind the scenes.

“Corporate contracts often come with soft ‘perks’ the retail flyer rarely sees,” says Heunes. “Including guaranteed availability, waived change fees, volume rebates, and sometimes even chauffeur transfers on carriers like Emirates and Qatar Airways. This is exactly where a managed travel programme adds value beyond rate.”

What business class actually gets you

The world’s top airlines are getting very serious about their business class offering. Qatar’s QSuite offers sliding doors, “Do Not Disturb” indicators and customisable ambient lighting – not to mention a turndown service complete with pillows, a quilted mattress, plush blanket and PJs. Cathay Pacific’s Aria Suite (winner of the World’s Best Business Class in the 2026 AirlineRatings Awards) has privacy pods, plenty of cubby storage, a 24-inch, 4K in-flight entertainment screen, free Wi-Fi and a 5-star, restaurant-style dining experience.

For Heunes though, business class is often misunderstood.

“While lie-flat seats are great, what corporate buyers are really paying for is productive time: the space to work on a laptop, sleep on an overnight flight, and arrive functional,” says Heunes. “For staff travelling on the long-haul routes that South Africans know so well, rest, productivity and morale means business class pays for itself before the seatbelt sign goes off.”

Hotel perks worth knowing

Hotels are arguably winning the perks race – with many designed around health and wellbeing.

The Wall Street Hotel in New York, for example, has partnered with the ness, a trampoline-based movement studio, to bring intentional, low-impact wellness directly to your room (complete with trampoline and sessions streamed on your in-room smart television). Shangri-La Singapore’s Horizon Club Business Rooms come with adjustable standing desks, dual 4K monitors on request, and complimentary pressing of business clothes. IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) has implemented acoustic doors and heavy soundproofing, while Hyatt’s premium properties supply white noise machines.

Quieter perks are worth knowing about too. Pillow menus, once an outlandish luxury, are now pretty mainstream at upper-tier establishments. The Benjamin Royal Sonesta has a 10-choice pillow menu, and guests can choose from anti-snore, buckwheat, cooling pillows, and Swedish memory foam tailored to their sleep positions.

More mainstream? Most hotels are happy to offer all sorts of things if you only know to ask: chargers, adaptors, sewing kits, toothbrushes and toothpaste, yoga mats, boardgames and even weighted blankets, sleep masks and slippers. Kimpton Vero Beach Hotel in Florida, USA, even runs a “Forgot it? We’ve got it!” programme, letting guests borrow accessories like sunglasses and handbags.

Again, for Heunes, it’s the more practical perks that make the difference.

“Early check-in and late check-out are huge for long-haul travellers,” says Heunes. “Flights out of South Africa often seem to land at unfriendly times. Always check with your travel management company what’s possible, and what can be negotiated. Some hotels also provide a complimentary shuttle service, which is a big perk in anyone’s language!”

What your company will and won’t pay for

Luxury hotels’ concierge services are well-versed in special – often eccentric – requests (including Evian baths, egg-free omelettes and VIP access to shows and events) but, in truth, when it comes to business travel things are far more boring.

As Heunes notes, internal scrutiny of spend has increased and buyers are expected to show financial control while supporting productivity, safety and traveller wellbeing.

Depending on the size of your company (and travel programme) the budget could expand to premium economy or business class on flights over six hours, full board, hotel Wi-Fi, laundry, reasonable tips, and increasingly, properties that support hybrid work with ergonomic desks and good connectivity.

What companies almost universally will not pay for is the minibar, in-room movies, spa treatments outside an approved wellness stipend, seat upgrades without pre-approval, alcohol outside client entertainment, traffic fines, anything for a travelling partner, and direct bookings outside the managed channel.

Which could leave modern business travellers in a slightly awkward position: flown upfront to Heathrow, ergonomically supported at the hotel, and quietly paying for their own packet of cashews from the minibar. “This is where travel policies are so important,” says Heunes. “Even companies with small travel programmes need to agree on perks and spend – and how reimbursements are managed. It is a core part of any travel programme.”

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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Following February’s Middle East airspace crisis, South African corporates with the right travel programme infrastructure have a narrow window to lock in favourable long-term hotel rates if they act now.

While the sudden airspace closures across the UAE, Qatar, and Jordan sent hotel occupancy in hubs like Dubai and Doha plummeting, the aftermath has created a counter-intuitive reality. According to FCM Consulting’s Insights Report 2026 published this month, average daily rates in the Middle East have softened significantly, creating a rare procurement window for South African corporates to lock in long-term deals before a projected 4% rate recovery kicks in.

However, the report reveals that only companies with robust, actively managed travel programmes are in a position to exploit this drop.

“We are seeing a clear divide in how South African businesses are reacting,” says Mummy Mafojane, General Manager of FCM South Africa. “Companies relying on unmanaged travel or outdated hotel lists are still spooked because they couldn’t locate their people during the February chaos. Meanwhile, companies with proper duty-of-care infrastructure are stepping in right now to negotiate highly favourable hotel terms while prices are down.”

When disruption hits, infrastructure is everything

For South African companies with staff travelling to the region, the questions during the airspace closures arrived immediately: where are our people? Can we reach them? What are our contractual positions with the hotels they’ve booked?

The answer depended almost entirely on one factor: whether the organisation had an  actively managed travel programme built with disruption in mind.

“A hotel programme that simply lists preferred properties is not a risk management tool,” Mafojane notes. “Duty of care means knowing where your people are, having the relationships to move them quickly, and building flexibility into your programme before you need it – not after the crisis has already started.”

Companies that navigated the February disruption most effectively shared a common set of characteristics. Their travel management company (TMC) had real-time visibility of traveller locations and bookings. To maintain this level of control, FCM Consulting’s report sets out a practical framework for travel programmes operating in complex and volatile regions. This includes flexible rate agreements that protect against sudden cancellations, hotel safety standards calibrated to location risk and developed in consultation with corporate security teams, regular reviews of regional conditions, and a TMC relationship that provides genuine crisis coordination, not just booking administration.

South African companies relying on direct bookings, unmanaged travel, or outdated preferred hotel lists had none of these protections. In an environment where booking lead times in the Middle East had already compressed significantly as risk awareness grew, the absence of programme visibility was a significant duty-of-care failure.

The broader procurement opportunity

The broader message from the analysis is not that South African companies should retreat from the Middle East. Commercial momentum in the region remains significant, supported by:

• 177,281 hotel rooms currently in Saudi Arabia’s inventory, with nearly 50,000 more under construction.
• USD$234 Middle East average room rate for 2025 (up $27 year-on-year).
• A projected 4%+ Average Daily Rate (ADR) recovery in the region once stability returns.

For SA buyers with the programme infrastructure to act, the current interim softening in rates represents a genuine opportunity to lock in favourable long-term agreements, securing enhanced terms before rates climb again on the back of the region’s structural growth.

“The companies navigating this most effectively are not the ones that stopped travelling. They are the ones who invested in the right programme infrastructure before the crisis and are now positioned to move quickly as conditions normalise,” said Mafojane.

The Middle East disruption is the most acute example in the report of a theme that runs through FCM Consulting’s entire 2026 analysis: the growing importance of programme agility in an unpredictable operating environment. “Strong demand does not always mean stable conditions,” the report notes. “Programmes must account for disruption as well as growth.”

JOHANNESBURG – The UAE has lifted its airspace restrictions, the US-Iran ceasefire appears to be holding (as of 18 May 2026), Emirates has restored 96% of its global network, other Gulf carriers (including Etihad, Qatar and Saudia) continue to rebuild operations, and capacity constraints are gradually settling. By most operational measures, things are looking up.

Traveller confidence is a different story.

As Mummy Mafojane, General Manager of FCM South Africa, explains, geopolitical conflict – including fresh drone attacks – continues to impact travel decisions, with travel managers rerouting travellers, changing itineraries, delaying non-essential trips and taking a hard look at their duty of care policies.

What business travellers are actually feeling

South Africans are fairly resilient by nature. Covid, years of load shedding, economic volatility and the loss of more than one domestic carrier have produced travellers that know how to roll with disruption.

“But business travel complicates the picture,” says Mafojane. “When your company sends you somewhere, a grounded flight is more than an inconvenience. It can quickly become a question of duty of care, insurance, work and family obligations, corporate liability and personal safety, all at once.”

Global Rescue’s recent Traveller Sentiment and Safety Surveys show that 56% of travellers are more concerned about personal safety than a year ago. The travel risk and crisis organisation also found that:

• 82% of travellers express some level of concern about personal security risks abroad, including kidnapping, extortion and violent crime;
• 38% describe today’s travel risk as unpredictable;
• 36% believe international travel is more dangerous than it was before 2020; and
• 31% of seasoned travellers say illness or injury abroad is their biggest concern for 2026, followed by civil unrest or terrorism at 21%.

Can bosses still dictate where and when staff travel?

Legally, in South Africa, the short answer is yes: employers can generally direct where and when employees travel for work, provided the request is reasonable and aligns with the employment contract. In return, they must cover the costs, ensure safe working conditions and respect the employee’s fundamental rights.

Practically, duty of care has evolved well beyond a clause in an employment contract. ISO 31030, the international standard for travel risk management, now sets a benchmark courts use to judge whether an employer acted reasonably.

It requires senior leadership ownership (where the organisation’s appetite for risk is defined, documented, signed off at the top and reviewed regularly), pre-trip risk assessment, real-time tracking and a credible incident response plan. It also explicitly covers psychological wellbeing, not only physical safety.

For South African employers, it means that travel decisions can no longer be made in isolation from the traveller. A reasonable instruction is one that has been thought through, risk-assessed, properly supported and openly discussed with the person being sent.

“Travellers want clarity, choice and a sense that someone has thought carefully about the trip before they board,” says Mafojane. “The companies getting this right have moved from a purely compliance mindset to a conversation. Pre-trip briefings, transparent route options, and a clearly understood escalation path are no longer nice-to-haves; they are the foundations of a strong travel programme.”

The trust “signals” travellers are looking for

For Mafojane, the levels of disruption experienced in late February/early March proved that human-led crisis response – with experienced travel managers at the helm – isn’t going anywhere.

“Automated tools are brilliant, and they certainly speed up our response time, but travellers still turn to human support in times of genuine disruption,” says Mafojane. “A 24-hour line answered by an experienced consultant remains a valuable feature of a corporate travel programme.”

Reliable, consistent technology also builds trust over time.

“Travellers lose confidence quickly when booking systems, itinerary tools, expense platforms and tracking apps fail – or tell them different things,” says Mafojane. “An integrated system, from booking platform to traveller app, should be a reliable source of information. It’s an important aspect of duty of care.”

Finally, more than a passing nod to traveller wellness and wellbeing. Travellers notice the difference. Flexibility on rebooking, openness to bleisure (combining business and leisure travel) where it makes sense, proper pre-trip briefings that cover what to do when things go wrong, and post-trip recovery time are the markers that read as genuine care. “The programmes that will thrive over the next year are the ones that focus on traveller confidence,” says Mafojane. “Get that right, and the rest follows.”

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JOHANNESBURG – When flights started being cancelled across the Gulf at the end of February, hundreds of thousands of travellers were stranded, exposing how dependent travel – particularly from South Africa – is on a handful of hubs. Among them were business travellers: senior teams on their way to close deals, inspect sites and run critical projects. High-stakes trips, suddenly on hold.

If one of those travellers had been yours, the price your company paid for the trip would have been less important than answering where they are, how safe they feel, and what the knock-on ramifications might be of delaying the trip. At times like these, companies experience the limits of a travel programme that is focussed solely on price, not impact.

Mummy Mafojane, General Manager at FCM South Africa, says unmanaged or purely price‑driven travel quickly becomes more expensive overall, once you factor in last‑minute changes, missed connections and poor routing. “We see clients who fixate on the cheapest fare, but by the time you add in longer routings, extra nights, changes and reissues, the real cost of the trip is far higher,” she says.

“The companies that cope best are the ones that treat travel as a managed investment, with clear policy, preferred partners and access to data to back their decisions.”

The payoff is measurable. A recent study by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) found that every 1% rise in managed travel spend corresponds with a 0.20% increase in revenue, and companies with strategically managed travel programmes outperform their peers by as much as 30%. Yet most lack the data infrastructure to prove the link between travel investment and performance.

That matters because business travel spend is growing, and scrutiny is growing with it.

Global business travel spend is forecast to reach around $1.7 trillion in 2026, up from $1.57 trillion last year, according to the GBTA. In addition, FCM’s State of the Market report showed that 45% of FCM customers planned to increase travel spend in FY26, with EMEA leading at 46%, up from 39% in 2025. Companies are spending more, but are they spending well?

Measuring what really matters

FCM Consulting’s Travel Impact Index is a structured assessment tool that helps companies and travel managers evaluate and clearly explain the value of their managed travel programme in business terms, not just in savings.

It scores programmes across six pillars, including governance, risk management, data visibility, supplier strategy, stakeholder engagement and traveller experience, and benchmarks those scores against similar organisations. The result shows where a programme is strong, where the gaps are, and where investment will have the greatest impact.

Financial impact is where the business case lives. Most programmes measure direct spend but miss the time lost to cumbersome booking processes, the cost of badly routed itineraries and the carbon exposure that sustainability reporting now requires. Without those numbers, a programme cannot give the business an honest account of what travel actually costs.

Risk management has become an operational priority. The International SOS Risk Outlook 2026, surveying 830 senior decision-makers, found 57% say new risks are emerging faster than they can manage. That was evident at the end of February, when more than 27,000 flights were grounded across nine countries in just a few days. Companies with access to real-time traveller tracking and predefined response protocols moved their people swiftly; those that didn’t were left scrambling.

Governance is what converts insight into action, through benchmarked processes, defined mandates and empowered teams that can respond when needed.

Alongside those three sit the pillars that make the programme work day-to-day, including stakeholder engagement and the traveller experience. Arguably one of the most important, because if the booking process is difficult, people book outside the programme and the company loses sight of spend, risk exposure and supplier commitments.

“Sort out your bookings, sort out the data, and sort out compliance,” says Mafojane. “After that, the numbers speak for themselves, including on the days when flights stop and your people need to come home.” FCM Consulting’s Travel Impact Index is available at fcmtravel.com.

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JOHANNESBURG – In April 2024, when 18 months of rain fell on Dubai in a single day, more than 1,200 flights had to be cancelled, stranding over 250,000 travellers in terminals. Late last year, Cyclone Ditwah wreaked havoc in Sri Lanka during peak tourist season, forcing mass evacuations of foreign visitors. Right now, conflict in the Middle East continues to ground flights and drive disruption.

In such situations, it’s not only leisure travellers affected, but business travellers suddenly stranded without a backup plan or a clear timeline for getting home. For their employers, the crisis boils down to: Where, exactly, are our people … and how can we keep them safe?

The International SOS Risk Outlook 2026 report reveals that most companies cannot answer that question confidently. Surveying over 860 global leaders and risk specialists, the report confirms a dangerous “preparedness gap” is widening.

The International SOS, the world’s leading health and security risk services company which provides worldwide assistance for medical, security and travel emergencies, says 57% of leaders say new risks are emerging faster than they can manage. Three-quarters (74%) say the window for critical decisions is shrinking. And only 35% feel confident they can mobilise teams quickly when it counts.

If an organisation cannot locate its staff in the first hour of a disaster, it isn’t managing risk.

“More and more companies are waking up to the importance of risk management,” says Mummy Mafojane, General Manager of FCM South Africa. “In our experience, the key is being proactive – investing in the right systems before a crisis hits, so you have the tools and support in place. This includes a centralised booking system, real-time safety dashboards and 24/7 travel support.”

What can go wrong, often does

The other problem is that risks no longer arrive one at a time. The report found that 49% of leaders now see security, health and operational risks as tightly linked, often hitting simultaneously. A flood is also a health risk, a security concern if civil unrest follows, and a digital risk if systems go down at the same time. Airspace closures have turned straightforward routes into last-minute detours and long delays. And geopolitical instability tops the worry list, cited by 47% of respondents, ahead of cybercrime at 27%.

Meanwhile, the staff members absorbing these risks are exhausted: living in this “permacrisis”, they are worn down by inflation, conflict, climate anxiety and constant volatility. Anxiety and stress remain the most common reasons for medical assistance among business travellers, yet only 17% of companies rank mental health as a top-three concern. That disconnect between what employees are experiencing and what companies are planning for is a liability.

What’s the plan?

“Travel risk management is not about getting your paperwork in order,” says Mafojane. “It’s about knowing, in the moment, where your people are and what they’re facing. When disruption hits, you need a plan: who is affected, what is happening, and how you’ll get them to safety.”

That starts with visibility. If employees are booking through a mix of online tools, airline apps and personal credit cards, the company has a disconnected view of their travel plans. But if they used a travel management company (TMC), those bookings would “live” on one system.

A capable TMC should offer real-time alerts, covering severe weather, unrest, strikes, health outbreaks and cyber incidents, which are matched against current and upcoming itineraries.

Who takes ownership?

Technology only works if someone owns the outcome. Too often, nobody quite owns travel risk. Security assumes HR has it covered. HR thinks it’s an issue for the line manager. Finance worries about cost, legal worries about liability, and by the time it reaches the C-suite, it’s already a crisis.

“Clear ownership matters more than any single tool,” says Mafojane. “Someone has to be accountable to the risk register, the approvals and the escalation chain.”

ISO 31030:2021, the first international standard for business travel risk management, provides a useful framework for pre-trip assessments, traveller briefings, emergency response and post-incident support, including mental health. It’s voluntary, but regulators, insurers and courts are increasingly asking whether companies can demonstrate they’ve thought these issues through.

The standard assumes, of course, that the company knows the trip is happening. Increasingly, it doesn’t. The “hush trip”, during which an employee is quietly working from another country without telling their employer, is one of the fastest-growing blind spots in business travel. When that person calls for help during a trip the company didn’t know about, there is no policy to fall back on.

“Updating your travel policies to reflect today’s trends and realities and conducting regular risk audits are both important. They go hand in hand,” says Mafojane. “Disruption isn’t a question of if, but when. The companies that weather it best are the ones that already know where their people are, and what to do next.”

Three weeks on, and flights are slowly returning. As an example, Emirates has resumed operations and is progressively rebuilding capacity. They’re currently operating two daily flights from Johannesburg and one daily flight from Cape Town, with plans to resume three weekly flights from Durban as soon as possible.

But as Herman Heunes, GM of Corporate Traveller explains, while operations have resumed, the situation can change in an instant, with delays, cancellations and restricted schedules still impacting travel plans.

We sat down with the Corporate Traveller team to discuss exactly what travel managers, travel bookers and travellers need to know right now.

1.Capacity is still constrained – and pricing reflects it

The Middle East normally acts as the primary aviation corridor connecting South Africa to Europe, Asia and beyond. When thousands of flights are cancelled or rerouted, you remove a massive amount of inventory from the market. Supply disappears but demand does not.

And as Heunes explains, capacity is not the only factor at play.

“Fares are climbing for several reasons. Yes, supply and demand is a factor, but so are rising oil prices, longer flight paths and associated operational costs (as airlines avoid restricted airspace), and increased operational expenses, including insurance premiums, which are often passed on to travellers.”

2.New routes are filling up – fast

Alternative hubs, including Addis Ababa, Singapore and various European gateways, are growing in popularity as travellers seek non-Gulf routings, further compressing available capacity and driving up last-minute prices.

Corporate Traveller’s latest booking data shows a spike in sales for, among others, Ethiopian Airlines (+100%), British Airways (+100%), Virgin Atlantic (+303%), Lufthansa (+103%), KLM (+114%), Air France (+20%), Singapore Airlines (+109%), Cathay Pacific (+106%) and Air China (+225%).

For Heunes, the practical implication is clear: if your team is booking independently, they are competing for constrained seats, without the expertise, priority access and supplier relationships that a managed travel programme provides.

3.Travel insurance – still your best bet

Perhaps the most pressing question over the last few weeks has been around what  travel insurance will – and won’t – cover.

Speaking on an ASATA webinar during the week, Jason Veitch, Business Head for Accident & Health at Santam Travel Insurance (formerly TIC) explained that war is a universal exclusion across all travel insurance products globally. It’s not unique to South Africa, any single insurer, or indeed the travel industry.

 “War exclusions exist because the scale of conflict can affect hundreds of thousands of travellers simultaneously – and no insurance pool can absorb that,” says Veitch. “But while war exclusions apply to trip cancellation and curtailment, including additional accommodation costs; other benefits, like medical, remain in place.”

This is important, because unexpected medical costs can be crippling for travellers.

 “The main reason for travel insurance is actually medical,” says Veitch. “And that’s what sometimes gets lost in these conversations. Medical cover is still available. Luggage cover is still available. Other benefits are still available. We have had policyholders in hospitals in the region being cared for under their travel insurance. That’s exactly what a policy is there for.”

For Heunes, travel insurance remains a non-negotiable. But it’s important to read the Ts&Cs.

“Different policies will have different wording dealing with war exclusions, known events and government advisories,” says Heunes. “It’ll impact companies doing business in different regions across the world. Understanding what your team is covered for, including medical evacuations, and what territorial limitations might apply, is critical to managing risk.”

4.Airline policies – where does their responsibility begin and end?

During a disruption of this nature, airlines have clear obligations to their passengers. If your flight is cancelled before you depart, you are entitled to an alternative flight or a full refund, with no penalties. If you have already departed and find yourself stranded mid-journey, that responsibility expands: the airline must rebook you, reroute you through partner carriers if necessary, and accommodate you until you reach your final destination.

However, if you choose to cancel a forward booking on a flight that is still operating, standard cancellation terms apply. Check your fare conditions carefully and contact the airline or your travel expert before making that call.

It’s also worth noting that fares are locked at the time of booking – no fuel surcharge increases will be applied to existing trips.

“We have to acknowledge the response of the airlines,” says Heunes. “Emirates, Etihad and Qatar have handled an extraordinarily difficult situation with real professionalism. Extended call centre hours, regular updates and clear communication with agents – they’ve worked hard to keep the trade informed and to process changes and refunds as quickly as possible. It’s made a real difference.”

5.Duty of care – do you know where your people are?

As Heunes explains, any company with a travel programme – big or small – has a duty of care to its travellers. In practice, that means having a clear travel policy in place; access to reliable pre-trip travel information; clear restrictions on travel to higher-risk countries; the ability to locate and contact your travellers quickly in an emergency; and a crisis management plan for when things go wrong. “This is where a travel management company proves its worth,” says Heunes. “When a crisis hits, visibility is everything. A centralised booking system; 24/7 emergency support; strong airline partners; crisis management plans – it’s all part of a managed travel programme.”

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JOHANNESBURG – For decades, South African corporate travel was ruled by a single metric: cost. If a route via the Middle East saved R5,000 on a trip to London, it was booked. But as we approach the 2026-2030 commitment period of the Climate Change Act, that logic is breaking down.

Today, that same indirect flight presents a boardroom-level dilemma. It might be cheaper, but does the extended flight path blow the carbon budget? And given current geopolitical volatility, does the layover expose the employee to unacceptable security risks?

Travel has shifted from a procurement line item to a complex governance challenge. While South African businesses remain budget-conscious, the convergence of stricter ESG reporting and heightened Duty of Care means the “cheapest fare” is often no longer the viable option.

The regulatory wake-up call

The catalyst for this shift is regulatory. In March last year, the Climate Change Act came partially into effect, fundamentally changing how large companies view their operations. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s technical guidelines for carbon budgets set up the first commitment period (2026 to 2030). This pushes companies from merely “preparing” to proving exactly what they emit and how they will cut it.

Crucially, business travel is explicitly listed in the JSE’s climate disclosure guidance as a Scope 3 emissions source.

For those outside the sustainability office, the distinction between the different scopes is an important one. Scope 1 covers direct emissions (like fuel for company cars), and Scope 2 covers indirect energy (like electricity for the head office). Scope 3 is the catch-all for the wider value chain, including every flight, hotel night, and Uber ride taken by staff. Because these emissions happen outside the company’s direct control, they are the hardest to measure, yet for many service-based companies, they make up the bulk of their carbon footprint.

“Before, boards considered travel expenditure purely as a finance issue. Now, it’s about how business travel fits into the carbon budget,” says Mummy Mafojane, GM FCM South Africa. “Boards want to know: what did we emit, where did it come from, and what are we doing differently next quarter? If companies are expected to report emissions properly, travel has to be counted and managed like any other source of carbon.”

Leading by example

We are already seeing this shift among South Africa’s major players. Leading financial group Discovery has committed to eliminating its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2028. In practice, this means decarbonising their physical operations, shifting their buildings to renewable energy and eliminating emissions from company-owned fleets.

But the bigger challenge lies in Scope 3, where they have committed to cutting business-travel emissions by a further 30% by 2030. This requires a fundamental change in behaviour: replacing non-essential flights with digital alternatives, enforcing stricter approval flows, and selecting travel partners based on carbon efficiency rather than just price.

Similarly, energy and chemicals giant Sasol already measures and reports its global business-travel footprint under Scope 3. Unlike companies that simply estimate this, Sasol uses granular data to calculate the exact impact, using that information to purchase verified carbon credits to offset the emissions they cannot yet eliminate.

However, many companies struggle to match this precision because complete, auditable travel data is notoriously difficult to collate. When employees book directly with airlines, use consumer sites, or pay with personal cards, the data fragments. Without details on cabin class, routing, or ground transport, calculations rely on averages and assumptions, and those are methods that auditors are increasingly rejecting.

When disruption becomes a data problem

Here’s where South Africa’s recent travel chaos becomes more than just an operational headache and becomes an ESG compliance issue.

When jet-fuel shortages at OR Tambo and Cape Town forced flight cancellations and diversions recently, employees scrambled to rebook. Some used personal credit cards. Others booked last-minute alternatives through consumer sites. Fuel had to be sourced from Durban and Mozambique, creating extended ground transport and unplanned routing changes.

Similarly, when severe weather repeatedly flooded roads and disrupted flights across coastal and inland regions, itineraries were rewritten on the fly, often outside the official travel management channel.

The result? Every disruption creates a data gap. Those emergency re-bookings, alternative routes, and last-minute hotel stays rarely get captured in the company’s emissions tracking system. When audit season arrives, the carbon calculation is incomplete, and the auditor flags it.

“Emissions reporting is only as good as the supplier inputs behind it,” notes Mafojane. “But when a crisis forces employees off-programme, even the best suppliers can’t help you. You end up with gaps in your Scope 3 data, and that becomes a regulatory risk, not just a travel risk.”

This is why resilience planning is now an ESG imperative. Companies that build contingency into their travel programmes, including preferred backup routes, pre-vetted alternative carriers, clear escalation protocols, don’t just protect their people. They protect their data integrity. And in a world where incomplete emissions reporting can trigger audit findings or regulatory scrutiny, that matters.

Even when travel goes according to plan, supplier quality determines whether your emissions data holds up under scrutiny. If an airline, hotel group, or car-rental partner can’t provide usable emissions data, the company ends up relying on proxies, and those numbers get interrogated later by auditors, assurance teams and, in some cases, regulators.

That’s why preferred supplier lists will increasingly favour providers that can deliver consistent emissions information and show credible progress on their own footprint. It lowers reporting risk as much as it lowers emissions.

Duty of care meets carbon accountability

This is where ESG and Duty of Care fully converge. More companies are aligning travel risk management to ISO 31030, moving beyond ad-hoc approvals to structured frameworks with clear escalation paths and contingency plans that don’t hinge on a single airport, corridor, or carrier.

This complexity changes the mandate for the Travel Management Company (TMC). It’s no longer enough to simply issue a ticket. The TMC must ensure that every booking – and every rebooking – flows through channels that capture the data needed for compliance.

“Boards don’t like surprises – on carbon, on cost, or on disruption – and they expect their TMC to flag those issues before they happen,” Mafojane adds.

The Climate Change Act puts business travel inside the same reporting rules as the rest of a company’s emissions. If the information is incomplete, an auditor will pull it apart. If there’s no backup plan, a fuel shortage or storm doesn’t just strand people, but can creates holes in your carbon reporting that you’ll have to defend later. As we head into 2026, the companies that will succeed are those that can provide evidence of controls, supplier vetting, and data integrity. Those that can’t will find themselves defending carbon budget overruns to the regulator, and explaining to the board why their teams were stranded halfway across the world instead of in front of clients.