At the heart of the restructure is the consolidation of sales and marketing under unified regional leadership. For travel agents across the MEA region, it means a single, aligned team working in step to help them sell NCL more effectively and grow their cruise business with confidence.

Leading that charge in MEA is Gary Anslow, appointed as the region’s new VP. Anslow brings considerable experience to the role, which will serve alongside his position of VP and Head of UK and Ireland, one of NCL’s most established and high-performing markets. He takes over from Kevin Bubolz, who spearheaded NCL’s growth across MEA. Bubolz will now assume full oversight of NCL’s Continental European business. Both report into Jason Krimmel, NCL’s Chief International Sales and Marketing Officer.

Commenting on the transition, Bubolz said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time leading our strategy in MEA. The engagement and support we have had from our partners in the region has been exceptional. I know Gary and the team will continue to build on very solid foundations.”

Anslow added: “MEA is a region with tremendous energy and real appetite for cruise travel, and I am committed to making sure our trade partners have everything they need to capitalise on that. I am looking forward to deepening our relationships across the region and to ensuring that agents feel the full benefit of a more integrated sales and marketing approach.”

The announcement comes at a particularly compelling moment for travel trade partners to be selling NCL. Great Stirrup Cay, the cruise line’s iconic private island in The Bahamas, is set to launch the new Great Tides Waterpark on 4 September – a significant enhancement, with 19 waterslides, unique cliff jumps, and a Tidal Tower standing over 50m tall, that adds fresh appeal for families and gives agents a powerful new conversation-starter with clients.

An impressive portfolio of 2027 Europe itineraries, including expanded Mediterranean and Northern Europe sailings, offers strong options for the well-travelled South African market, while a pipeline of innovative new ships continues to grow one of the industry’s most modern fleets.

“The investment is real, the support is growing, and the opportunities for agents who lean into cruise have never been greater,” Anslow concluded.

Once upon a time, booking a holiday meant heading to your local travel agency, a manila folder of handwritten tickets to carry home and a visit to the bank to order your travellers cheques. Today, travellers can book an entire holiday from the palm of their hand.

As ASATA celebrates its 70th anniversary, they’re opening their archives and inviting us to revisit the milestones that modernised the industry – and changed how South Africans travel. 

1. 1956: Travel agencies become part of the journey

In 1956, ASATA was established as the first formal body to represent South African travel agents and elected Jim Finlay as its first chairman. At the time, travel agencies were essential to planning a trip, handling everything from tickets and passports to visas and even foreign currency. There was no such thing as booking it all yourself.

2. 1959–1971: The world gets easier to reach

The arrival of the first American Express plastic charge card in 1959 transformed international travel. Instead of carrying cash or travellers cheques, travellers could pay for flights, accommodation and everyday expenses with a single card. The arrival of the Boeing 747 in 1970 made long-haul travel more accessible than ever before, and in 1971, SAA rounded things off with SAAFARI, its very own automated reservations system – basically the ancestor of every booking app on your smartphone today.

3. 1972: A genuine world-first

In 1972, just one year after Japan pioneered IATA’s Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP), South Africa became the second country in the world to adopt it. The same year, ASATA elected its first president, John Bing, and successfully negotiated an increase in domestic airline commission from 5% to 7%.

*BSP is the standardised system that keeps ticket sales, reporting and payments between agents and airlines from descending into chaos.

4. 1978–1985: Regulation, insurance and the ticketing shake-up

Between the late 1970s and early 1980s, ASATA really rolled up its sleeves. The association helped draft the bill that became the Travel Agent and Travel Agencies Act (1983) and teamed up with SAA to introduce automatic ticket printing. It also negotiated an exclusive traveller insurance (Travelsure) and secured a 15-day BSP settlement period, modernising how travel agencies operated behind the scenes.

5. 1992–1994: Ethics and deregulation

During this timeframe, ASATA introduced its first Code of Conduct, reinforcing ethical standards across the industry. Just two years later, the Tourism Bill repealed the Travel Agent and Travel Agencies Act, ushering in a new era of competition and deregulation.

6. 1993–1998: A changing landscape

The repeal of marital power meant married women could finally open bank accounts, obtain credit cards, sign contracts and pay for travel independently without their husband’s consent. In 1998, ASATA elected its first Black president, Kananelo Makhetha, reflecting the transformation of both the association and South Africa itself.

7. 2001: Flying would never feel the same again

Before 9/11, passengers could arrive at the airport shortly before departure and loved ones could accompany them to the boarding gate. Then everything changed. Security tightened everywhere, and “arrive three hours early” became gospel.

8. The 2000s: Reinvention begins

During this time, smartphones, social media and online booking platforms completely transformed how people researched, booked and shared their travels. In 2005, ASATA elected its first woman president, Amanda Harrod, and as airline commissions shrank, professional service fees models filled the gap.

In 2010, the FIFA World Cup showcased South Africa to billions of people across the globe as a world-class tourism destination, proving that this country knows how to host a good party.

Throughout the 2010s, ASATA engaged government on unabridged birth certificates for minors, worked with National Treasury on cost containment measures, secured legal guardrails for pricing transparency, and helped determine the VAT treatment of international tickets through a favourable Constitutional Court outcome in 2020.

9. 2020: When travel stopped

COVID-19 became the greatest crisis the travel industry had ever faced. Borders closed, airlines grounded fleets and refunds became a lifeline for travellers. ASATA worked tirelessly to support members through SAA’s business rescue (2019-2022) and advocate for border reopening.

10. 2023 and beyond: Buckle up for the next chapter

Today, AI, digital borders and new traveller expectations are reshaping travel once again. Yet one thing has remained remarkably consistent: When flights are cancelled, visas become complicated or plans fall apart, people still turn to trusted travel professionals for guidance.

“That belief has guided ASATA since 1956,” says ASATA CEO, Otto de Vries. “Seventy years later, it remains at the heart of South African travel. In all that time, credible expertise never went out of fashion, and I suspect it never will.”

Global travel tech firm Aeronology launched in South Africa today, introducing the country’s first fully agnostic travel distribution platform. The innovation gives travel advisors a single screen to search, book, ticket and service flights, ending the need to switch between disconnected systems to find and manage the best fares for clients.

The launch responds to a problem the industry has been vocal about for the past years: airlines’ New Distribution Capability (NDC) content is fragmented across different systems, so advisors often have to follow a different process every time a flight needs to be changed or refunded, depending on where the booking was made.

The Aeronology platform brings Travelport, Sabre, Amadeus, NDC and low-cost carrier content together in one fully serviced environment, including rebooking, reissuing, voiding and refunding, all from a single screen. Critically, no prior GDS experience is required to use it: any advisor who signs up gains full access to GDS, LCC and NDC content in one place, with complete control over booking, ticketing, refunds and ancillaries from day one.

The platform is built to serve every tier of the trade: individual advisors with little or no GDS experience, who gain full booking and ticketing capability without needing IATA accreditation of their own, GDS-experienced advisors who need a proper servicing and ticketing engine, and IATA-accredited host agencies managing large networks of independent advisors under a single set of contracts. Advisors see their commission in real time as they book, and can call on 24-hour telephone support whenever they need it.

“I have always been passionate about the future of online travel in Africa,” said Rian Bornman, who is spearheading Aeronology’s entry into the market. “After evaluating the leading systems available globally, I could not be prouder to bring what I believe finally provides South African travel advisors full control in one place. Juggling multiple portals just to change a flight I think has been overwhelming and this technology gives the advisor time back, allowing them to focus on their clients rather than fighting with fragmented technology.”

The timing is significant. According to ASATA CEO Otto de Vries, an industry survey found that 82% of South African travel advisors identified managing multiple platforms as one of their biggest operational challenges.

“This could not come at a more critical time,” said de Vries. “Our members have told us, clearly and consistently, that managing multiple, disconnected booking systems, and increasingly fragmented NDC content, is one of the biggest operational burdens they face. The industry needs solutions like this, and it needs them now.”

“We have been looking for the right partner to introduce what we believe is the world’s leading ticketing and fulfilment platform to Africa,” said Aeronology CEO Pete Egglestone. “Rian’s experience in online travel, distribution and travel technology makes him uniquely positioned to lead our growth across the continent.”

Bornman is no stranger to disruption and innovation. Over the past decade, he has built one of South Africa’s most talked-about travel businesses from the ground up, and has spent his career pushing the boundaries of how South Africans access and book travel online.

To bring Aeronology’s platform to the South African market, Bornman and Aeronology CEO Pete Egglestone signed a partnership agreement on 3 August, marking the company’s formal entry into the African market. South African travel advisors interested in trialling the Aeronology platform can register their interest at www.aeronology.travel. Designed with flexibility in mind, Aeronology can be implemented as an immediate go live solution or introduced alongside an advisor’s existing system, enabling for a seamless transition. 

Rob Hetem remembers the moment he understood why. At a trade show in 2006, he watched representatives of a tourism business sitting inside their exhibition stand, eating lunch, while international buyers streamed past. “No one had explained how a trade show works,” recalls Hetem, who has spent more than two decades working in tourism development and transformation. “No one had shown them how to price for intermediaries, how to approach buyers or what buyers look for when assessing risk.”

When exhibitors went home without contracts, the usual conclusion was that the businesses weren’t ready for international markets. Hetem saw it differently. The businesses hadn’t failed. The model had put them in the room without equipping them to compete once they got there.

Those early lessons shaped a different approach. SATSA CEO David Frost, COO Hannelie du Toit and Rob Hetem brought their combined development, industry and sales experience together to build a model that prepares businesses properly before pushing them towards market access.

As Hetem explains, the journey starts with the less glamorous foundations: compliance, costing, pricing, packaging and distribution, with coaching and mentoring woven through each stage. Buyers only enter the picture once a business has the commercial tools and confidence to turn an introduction into something lasting.

Building businesses that can build others

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) Tour Operator Development Programme shows how the approach has evolved. Delivered by SATSA with Hetem leading it, the Tour Operator Project supported more than 70 small tourism businesses over four years. The fifth year added an important next step.

Working with the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism and Film Authority (KZN TAFA), the programme created a pathway for its strongest participants to move from business development into focused market access. KZN TAFA selected ten businesses with the potential to become commercial anchors in their regions, chosen not just for their own growth prospects but for the opportunities they could open up for others.

A capable local tour operator doesn’t need to sell a single accommodation establishment or experience. It can combine a lodge stay in St Lucia with a hiking experience in Underberg, a village homestay, a local transport provider and a small safari business.

To an international buyer, that’s one itinerary, one relationship and one contract instead of five. The lead operator handles pricing, compliance and quality standards, which lowers the buyer’s risk and gives smaller businesses access to markets they’d struggle to reach alone. One strong business becomes the commercial doorway for an entire network of local suppliers.

A model designed to multiply

“Our goal was to build ten reliable commercial anchors that could pull the rest of the ecosystem with them,” Hetem explains. He calls it “village alignment”: government provides the enabling investment, an NPO like SATSA coordinates the programme, experienced tourism businesses share what they know, and developing businesses grow into increasingly commercial roles.

Each participant contributes something different. The value is in how the pieces fit together. Rather than supporting businesses in isolation, the model builds a pipeline that keeps knowledge, opportunity and market access moving long after a specific programme ends.

That thinking is now reaching beyond South Africa’s borders. Ubuntu Travel Connexions, a Southern African tour operator turned marketer now based in Europe, has partnered with SATSA to launch the Ubuntu Incubator Programme. For 12 months, Charmaine Wardenberg’s Ubuntu will represent three trade-ready SMEs from the KwaZulu-Natal programme in the German market, at no cost to the businesses.

For the South African operators, it’s representation in a market they couldn’t easily enter alone. For Ubuntu, it’s a pipeline of tourism businesses that have already done the work to become compliant, reliable and ready to sell.

“It isn’t a new concept,” says Hetem. “We draw from the ideals of Ubuntu.” What’s different is applying that philosophy deliberately to commercial development, where success is measured not only by whether a business grows, but by how many others it brings into the tourism economy with it.

The same jointly developed approach shaped SATSA’s Desk to Desert initiative in the Northern Cape. The virtual familiarisation programme takes operators through compliance, pricing, distribution and marketing before they meet buyers, so they understand not just what a destination offers, but how to package and sell it.

From mentees to mentors

The clearest sign a development model is working may be what happens after the formal programme ends. Many participants go on to mentor other entrepreneurs, passing on the knowledge, connections and experience they once received themselves.

Thabo Modise started out selling T-shirts on Vilakazi Street before building Toura Travel Therapy. Today, known as “Thabo the Tourist,” he speaks at industry conferences, introduces visitors to Soweto’s art scene and creates opportunities for emerging artists.

Semadi Manganye and Paul Maluleke turned community guiding into GATHA, the Greater Alexandra Tourism and Heritage Association, which connects local tourism businesses while its greening projects supply fresh produce to restaurants in Sandton.

Thabo and GATHA aren’t just good news stories. Development that stops at keeping one entrepreneur afloat is only doing half the job.

The same principle runs through SATSA’s wider development work. In one initiative, 56 senior tourism professionals volunteered more than 1,000 years of combined industry experience to mentor 44 small tourism businesses over a year. Their focus was the practical commercial decisions that determine whether a business survives: pricing correctly, protecting margins, managing risk, and knowing when to walk away from an opportunity that isn’t worth it.

“These are results we’re proud of because they show that we now have development models that work,” says Du Toit. But she says success cannot be measured by business support alone. By the end of 2025, overseas arrivals had recovered to just 92% of pre-pandemic levels, according to Statistics South Africa. In her view, even the strongest enterprise development programme can only take businesses so far if the market itself is not expanding. “Readiness is only one side of the equation. We need to work just as deliberately on demand if the businesses we have developed are going to grow and remain sustainable.”

Ends

Issued by: Big Ambitions
Contact: Brenda Walters

Email: satsa@bigambitions.co.za

Tel. +27 73 061 3114

About SATSA

SATSA is the voice of inbound tourism in Southern Africa, representing over 1,100 quality assured members across the tourism value chain. As a trusted mark of credibility, SATSA-member businesses are vetted annually with stringent financial checks and adhere to a strict Code of Conduct, ensuring high ethical and operational standards. SATSA continually works to promote responsible tourism and protect travellers from fraudulent activity within the industry. https://www.satsa.com/

SATSA, the voice of inbound tourism in Southern Africa, has unveiled the full programme for its flagship annual conference, bringing together an exceptional line-up of business leaders, destination specialists, conservation pioneers, hospitality executives and tourism innovators to explore the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of tourism in the region.

Taking place from 19–21 August 2026 at Southern Sun Cape Sun, the conference will provide a platform for industry collaboration, strategic discussion and practical insight at a time when tourism businesses are navigating changing global markets, technological advances, conservation priorities and evolving traveller expectations.

Among those taking to the stage are some of South Africa’s most respected business, destination and tourism leaders, including Marcel von Aulock, Chief Executive Officer of Southern Sun; Adrian Enthoven, Executive Chairman of Yellowwoods and Family Owner of Spier Wine Farm; Graham Wood, Chief Executive Officer of the V&A Waterfront; Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, City of Cape Town; Enver Duminy, Chief Executive Officer of Cape Town Tourism; and Rashid Toefy, Deputy Director General: Economic Development and Tourism, Western Cape Government.

Joining them are respected leaders from organisations including SANParks, Rhino Africa, Africa’s Eden, Wesgro, Dream Hotels & Resorts, the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa, Nielsen Sports, Londolozi, Wild Wings Safaris, Isibindi Africa Lodges and Motsamayi Tourism Group, reflecting the breadth of expertise represented across the programme.

The programme explores some of the defining issues shaping tourism today, including:

• SANParks at 100: Legacy, Growth and the Road Ahead
• The South African Business Landscape: Navigating Change and Creating Opportunity
• The V&A Waterfront: Reinvention, Relevance and the Road Ahead
• Panorama Reimagined & Wild Eastern Cape: Destination Reinvention and Regional Competitiveness
• The Collaboration Advantage: How Government and Industry Are Building a Common Roadmap for Tourism Growth
• Beyond the Middle East Horizon: New Markets, New Routes and the Courage to Grow
• Reimagining Tourism, Together: Building a More Competitive, Connected and Inclusive Southern Africa

According to SATSA CEO David Frost, the conference has been designed to bring together the ideas, people and partnerships that will help shape the future of tourism.

“Tourism has always been one of South Africa’s greatest strengths, but the environment in which we operate is changing rapidly. Success will increasingly depend on our ability to collaborate, adapt and embrace new ways of thinking. SATSA Conference 2026 brings together the people, ideas and partnerships that will help shape tourism’s next chapter. More than a conference, it is where our industry comes together to challenge thinking, build relationships and create momentum for the future.”

SATSA Chairperson Oupa Pilane said the programme reflects both the diversity and strength of Southern Africa’s tourism sector.

“This year’s programme has been carefully curated to bring together some of the most influential voices from across business, conservation, government and tourism. By creating space for meaningful dialogue and practical insight, we hope delegates leave not only inspired, but equipped with new ideas, stronger partnerships and renewed confidence in the future of our industry.”

The full conference programme and registration details are available here.

About SATSA

SATSA is the voice of inbound tourism in Southern Africa, representing over 1,200 quality assured members across the tourism value chain. As a trusted mark of credibility, SATSA-member businesses are vetted annually with stringent financial checks and adhere to a strict Code of Conduct, ensuring high ethical and operational standards. SATSA continually works to promote responsible tourism and protect travellers from fraudulent activity within the industry. https://www.satsa.com/

Media Contact

Kim Taylor | Strategic Communications and Marketing Manager, SATSA

kim@satsa.co.za

Munetsi gave the figure at a side event co-convened by the SADC Secretariat and the Southern Africa Tourism Alliance (SATA) at Africa’s Travel Indaba 2026 in Durban. Visas, border efficiency and air access were all on the agenda, three angles on the same challenge. As SATA Project Lead Natalia Rosa told delegates, “Regional connectivity is the single most important strategic conversation the tourism sector should be having right now. Every other conversation, about brand, about positioning, about the growth of our visitor economy, is downstream of it.”

The machinery to achieve the goals set out in the SADC Tourism Programme 2020-2030 is moving. The SADC UniVisa is working through the inter-ministerial process towards the Heads of State Summit in August, a border post audit begins in July, and the air access study is complete and under review.

What industry is asking for

The private sector used the session to table proposals. Munetsi called for aviation policy, taxation and pilot licensing to be aligned across the region. Jillian Blackbeard, CEO of Africa’s Eden Tourism Association, proposed a SADC-wide border training programme with dedicated tourist channels and consistent procedures at crossings, the kind of standard the July audit could adopt.

Dimakatso Malwela, President of Women of Value Southern Africa, took the conversation somewhere it usually does not go. Her proposal, a supply development pilot across three to five member states, would bring women-led businesses into the tourism value chain and report measurable results inside twelve months. Her point was that connectivity moves visitors, but it does not decide who earns from them.

A live delegate poll showed where the consensus lay. New intra-regional air routes and one-stop posts at the busiest crossings were named as the changes most likely to shift things within two years.

The case for Team Tourism

“Team Tourism” kept coming up, because the reforms now under way only work when government and industry pull in the same direction. Governments can set the visa frameworks, the border procedures and the aviation policies, but none of it reaches a visitor unless the private sector is ready to act on it: itineraries built, operators briefed, agents able to sell the region as one place, not one country at a time.

Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa and SATA Chair, put the obligation on both sides. “Apex bodies across SADC must commit to coordinated action,” he said. “Governments cannot respond to fragmented briefs.”

On the UniVisa, the ICT systems, legal frameworks and revenue-sharing models are built, benchmarked against the KAZA UniVisa and the East African Tourism Visa. The founding group of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe provides a strong foundation for a pilot, and the August Summit is one of several moments where the pilot could be formalised.

A shared visa already makes travel between Zambia and Zimbabwe easier, so the model is proven. Scaling it is a step only government can take. The UniVisa needs an implementation roadmap and a go-live date. The air access study needs a public position on what proceeds, and by when. The July border audit is the moment to ensure training translates into consistent regional standards.

The private sector is getting ready, which is why SATA will keep pressing for all three together. A visa with no routes behind it, or open borders with no air access to use them, helps no one. Move them as one, hold every party to its part, and Southern Africa finally connects itself.

Some of the continent’s connectivity gaps have narrowed over the past year. Qantas added Perth to Johannesburg, Edelweiss introduced its A350 service to Windhoek, Air Congo announced a Brussels link to Kinshasa, and Ethiopian secured approval to serve Mauritius. If those routes can move from proposal to operation, why do others with similarly strong demand remain unserved?

That question sat at the centre of a discussion at AviaDev Africa 2026 in Gaborone, the continent’s main route development forum, where airlines, airports and tourism bodies meet to build new air links. It was chaired by Natalia Rosa, Project Lead at the Southern Africa Tourism Alliance (SATA).

The panel agreed that none of the stakeholders can make a route work alone. Airports need traffic, tourism boards need visitors and airlines need confidence that travellers have a reason to come. Rosa described it as a relationship, but as Keira Langford-Johnson, Business Development Director at Proflight Zambia, pointed out, not an equal one. The airline carries the risk, committing aircraft, crew and operating costs long before it knows whether demand will materialise.

Those costs do not move with the load. A half-empty aircraft burns much the same fuel as a full one, and no marketing campaign can change that. Airlines therefore look for evidence that demand will persist beyond a route launch. What they need, Langford-Johnson said, is proof that the market can sustain itself once the initial excitement fades. Too often that evidence never reaches the table. “What are people doing after they arrive? Where do they go? How do they move? That’s the data that builds a route,” she said.

Rupert Kraus of Discover Airlines, part of the Lufthansa Group, described a similar approach. Passenger numbers alone are rarely enough. He wants to see broader indicators of growth: hotels being developed, cargo volumes increasing and new industries investing in a destination. “If I only looked at the data in front of me, I’d struggle to justify the route,” he said.

With a limited fleet and a growing list of potential destinations competing for capacity, airlines need confidence that a market can support service over the long term rather than generate short bursts of demand.

The data exists, Kraus argued, yet it remains fragmented. Road transfer operators, charter companies and tourism businesses already collect much of the information airlines need to assess whether a route can succeed: who is travelling, where they are going, when they are travelling and in what numbers. Together, those datasets provide a far richer picture of demand than airlines often receive.

Langford-Johnson illustrated the point with three of Proflight Zambia’s recent routes into Livingstone, Maun and Windhoek, all of which emerged from conversations at AviaDev. None were obvious additions to the network, and Proflight does not launch new routes lightly. What changed was the preparation. Airport authorities, tourism boards and regulators arrived with a 72-page business case covering demand, market potential, operating costs and demographics. When information was missing, the airline asked for it and the partners supplied it. “If you’re not exchanging something, it’s just a meeting,” she said. The partners brought the evidence, helping build the confidence Proflight needed to launch the route.

Gathering the evidence is only part of the process. Keeping stakeholders aligned can be harder. As Tatamo Rakotozafy, Head of Aeronautical Activities at Ravinala Airports, explained, tourism authorities, airports and governments often approach route development with different priorities and measures of success.

The route is more likely to move forward when stakeholders can align around a shared economic objective. That common purpose becomes especially important when political priorities change or commercial pressures emerge.

Rakotozafy was describing alignment within a country. Justice Ofentse, Acting CEO of the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO), argued that the same principle applies across borders. Smaller destinations, he said, are often more effective when they approach airlines collectively rather than competing against one another for the same aircraft and investment.

His argument was that the region should present itself as a single market, rather than a collection of individual destinations each making separate pitches to carriers.

One event could supply exactly the evidence airlines keep asking for. The 2027 T20 Cricket World Cup, shared by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, is expected to move more than 340,000 people across the three countries.

As Ofentse suggested, the tournament will test whether the three countries can present themselves to travellers as a connected destination instead of three separate markets.

Bronwen Auret, Chief Quality Assurance Officer at South African Tourism, acknowledged that creating that level of coordination requires effort well beyond the tourism sector. The tournament, however, provides a practical opportunity to bring together air access planning, tourism promotion and regional cooperation around a single event.

If the planning is done well, she argued, it could also generate valuable data on how visitors moved through the region and where demand was concentrated.

Those patterns are the evidence airlines keep asking for. Whether the region can bring them together into a convincing demand case may determine which of its long-discussed routes finally move from proposal to schedule.

The panel recording can be viewed here.

Proflight Zambia has launched a new seasonal service linking Lusaka and Livingstone, Zambia, to Maun, Botswana, creating the first direct aviation corridor between Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta. The route operates three times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays via the BAE Jetstream 41 from May to October 2026, covering the full peak safari season across both destinations.

South African travellers can book the entire journey – from Johannesburg or Cape Town through to Maun – as a single through-ticket on one Proflight Zambia reservation. Johannesburg travellers fly daily into Lusaka, overnight, and continue to Maun the following morning. Cape Town travellers fly directly into Livingstone, spend time at Victoria Falls, and depart to Maun on a subsequent service, making the journey itself as much a part of the experience as the destinations.

Until now, combining Victoria Falls with the Okavango Delta in a single itinerary required routing back through Johannesburg, adding cost, time, and unnecessary complexity to what is a natural geographic pairing. The new service eliminates that entirely.

Captain Josias Walubita, Chief Pilot and Director of Flight Operations at Proflight Zambia, says the route addresses one of the most persistent frustrations for Southern African safari travellers.

“South African travellers have always understood that Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta belong in the same itinerary – the geography makes it obvious. What has held them back is the aviation infrastructure to make it practical. With this route, we are opening up a safari corridor that makes one of the world’s great multi-destination wildlife journeys genuinely accessible for the first time.”

The new corridor makes possible what is arguably Southern Africa’s most compelling safari itinerary: Zambia’s South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi, and Kafue National Parks combined with Victoria Falls, then onward to the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, and the Makgadikgadi Pans.

Peak season accommodation across both destinations books out quickly. Tickets are available now through Proflight Zambia’s sales offices, via travel agents, or online at flyzambia.com.

The milestone arrives amid one of the most operationally complex periods the South African travel industry has faced in recent memory. Airspace disruptions and widespread cancellations linked to the Middle East conflict have placed enormous pressure on travel advisors nationwide. For Envoyage members, the response was immediate: where airlines issued full refunds, Envoyage matched the commitment, refunding commissions in full so no member absorbed a loss for circumstances outside their control.

The network has also been working to keep members up to date regarding all the changes surrounding the conflict and its impact on travel, with more than 40 member updates issued to date, supported by a 24-hour helpline and network-level supplier negotiations that individual operators could not have accessed alone.

“When the disruptions hit, our members needed clear information and financial protection – fast,” said Chantal Gouws, General Manager of Envoyage South Africa. “We made a deliberate decision that if the airlines were doing right by passengers, we were doing right by our members. That is what belonging to a global network should mean in practice, not just in the brochure.”

Envoyage South Africa currently has close on 250 members, with a target of 15% growth by year-end, supported by a dedicated Member Success Manager focused on driving organic growth within the existing membership base.

Looking ahead, Envoyage will transition members to Travefy on 1 May – a globally adopted itinerary and client management platform that forms part of a broader investment in a future-fit technology ecosystem. A product showroom is also in development, and the organisation’s annual summit series across Johannesburg and Cape Town will bring the membership together in the months ahead.

“We’ve built something real here. The recognition we’re receiving across the industry tells us that Envoyage is moving in the right direction. We’re just getting started,” Gouws concluded.

Agents interested in exploring the Envoyage model and solutions can do so here.

“This year’s content agenda reflects the most pressing trends and opportunities influencing Africa’s tourism sector,” said Olivia Gradidge, Marketing Manager at RX Africa. “Each session is designed as a resource for attendees to learn, share knowledge, and better understand where their next big opportunities or pitfalls lie.”

Among the headline additions to this year’s programme is the Wine Tourism Track, developed in partnership with the Wine Tourism Conference, with dedicated sessions exploring how destinations can position themselves in this high-value and fast-growing segment. The track culminates in the premiere launch of a Blaauwklippen documentary, complete with a curated Visit Stellenbosch wine tasting experience on 14 April at 17:00.

“We are proud to showcase not just our wines, but the full experience of Blaauwklippen, where heritage meets modern hospitality, and every guest becomes part of our story,” said Craig Bester, Chief Brand Executive at Blaauwklippen Wine Estate.

IBTM Africa returns with a focused examination of the MICE sector, while the relaunch of SETE (Sports & Events Tourism Exchange), in partnership with Nielsen Sports, reinforces Africa’s growing role in global sports tourism. NextGen Ready sessions, developed in partnership with the African Youth in Tourism & Hospitality Association, address tourism’s emerging skills gap and the hybrid roles combining technology with human talent. WiT Africa and Innovation City Cape Town will host the WiT Next Generation Leaders Roundtable on 13 April, powered by Booking.com. Confirming this year’s theme of ‘Leadership Qualities in the Age of AI’, WiT Founder Yeoh Siew Hoon said: “We’ll welcome industry coaches and mentors with under-35 rising stars in Africa to brainstorm the skills and traits they need to thrive as travel enters a new, tech-enabled and human-led phase.”

Sustainability remains central to the programme through the Responsible Tourism Conference and Awards, while Speed Networking, sponsored by SimplyBiz Nedbank, also returns by popular demand.

As Host City, Cape Town is ready to welcome the travel and tourism professionals, buyers, and industry leaders converging on the CTICC from across the globe. “This is where the real work happens – on the floor, through conversations, and in the partnerships that drive our visitor economy,” said James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth. “Travel professionals from every corner of the world come to Cape Town for WTM Africa, and that global gathering is what makes this event so powerful. Tourism is a team sport, and we grow it together.”

Gradidge confirmed that the three-day programme is built for connection and commercial impact. “WTM Africa 2026 is where the conversations that matter most to this industry will happen, and where the connections made will translate into real business. Three days, one room, and an agenda built to move the industry forward. If you’re not yet registered, now is the time.”

Register now: https://www.wtm.com/africa/en-gb/enquire.html

View the full programme: www.wtm.com/africa/en-gb/whats-on/programme.html#/sessions