The Grinch that stole our holidays

● Cash-strapped South Africans are hunkering down this festive season, with many choosing to stay home amid predictions that holiday airfares will be five times higher than off-peak prices.

Though the hospitality sector expected to bounce back from Covid this year, with more South Africans travelling this December, hotel occupancy rates are nowhere close to 2019 levels.

FNB property sector strategist John Loos said South Africans are still digging themselves out of the 2020 financial hole. “The household sector took a big financial knock in 2020. It takes a few years to fully revive your finances. More recent economic pressures coming from high inflation and the high and rising interests rates have led to the considerable cost of paying household debt, further eating into disposable income.

“For many people, a holiday is nice to have, but it’s a luxury. And when your income gets tight, you generally cut out luxuries first.”

A much anticipated year-end beach holiday in East London for Riaan Smit, his family and friends has been cancelled because “the costs just don’t make sense”.

Smit, his wife Lizaan and their eightyear-old daughter, from Olivedale in Joburg, were planning to spend two weeks at a camping resort with friends. “But our friends decided it wasn’t worth it and cancelled. Then I worked out that it was going to cost us R13,000 for the site, but the fuel worked out at almost R16,000.

“It’s ridiculous. In the past fuel was not a big consideration. Now it’s the biggest cost. So instead, we have booked two weeks at Dube in Brits [in North West], where the accommodation will be R11,000 and the fuel cost about R2,000,” said Smit, who drives a Ford Ranger.

Another widespread reason for staying local is the high cost of domestic flights.

A Sunday Times search for a single return flight between Joburg and Durban on the December 16 long weekend showed prices

ranging from R2,531 to R4,024. With the distance flown being about 1,000km, this puts the cost of 100km of air travel between R250 and R402.

This is up from five years ago when, according to Kiwi.com’s 2017 Flight Price Index, South Africa rated 11th in the world for cheap flights, with the average cost being R87 per 100km of travel on domestic flights.

“People are furious about the costs of air travel, but I don’t think price gouging has anything to do with it,” aviation expert and pilot Des Latham told the Sunday Times.

“There’s a lot going into it, not just a shortage of seats. The fuel price has been going up between 60% and 70% year on year — and that is 75% of your costs. This recent demand ramp-up was unexpected, and there’s a shortage of planes, pilots and ground crew,” he said, adding the same thing was being experienced in Australia and the US.

Prices, he said, were affected by many things, but the Covid lockdown, red-listing of countries and the mothballing of planes for a year and a half were big contributors.

Aviation specialist Linden Burns said flight prices were influenced by inflation and the jet fuel price, which went up by 100% in the past year.

“We are experiencing some challenges in our market due to capacity constraints. This relates to the fact that we don’t have Kulula.com, Mango, SA Express and other airlines. South African Airways is operating at only 10% capacity,” he said.

“What we don’t have now is a luxury we used to have a few years ago where you could book your ticket at the last moment.”

An online search on Cheapflights and Travelwings for a return flight from OR Tambo International to King Shaka International for the December 16 weekend for one adult showed the following fares:

● Airlink — between R3,626 and R3,648

● Cemair — R3,890 and R4,014

● FlySafair — R2,531 and R2,742

● Lift — R2,890 and R3,723

● SAA — R3,933 and R4,024

Discovery Vitality CEO Dinesh Govender said a dearth in supply globally was pushing flight prices up. “Predictions are that holiday airfares will be five times higher than at offpeak,” he said.

Nelson Mandela University tourism department lecturer Rosemary MatikitiManyevere said inflation had a huge impact on domestic tourism.

“Over the past five years, hotel rates have skyrocketed. For example, one well-known hotel chain in South Africa [name withheld for ethical reasons] charged between R829 and R953 for a room in 2017, but now charges between R1,097 and R1,572. People are discouraged from travelling outside their regions, particularly for tourism-related activities, by the cost of fuel.

“The majority of businesses no longer pay a 13th cheque or bonuses, thus leaving people with little to no discretionary income,” said Matikiti-Manyevere.

Tourist Business Council of South Africa said while it did not conduct research on comparative costs over the years, a global trend was for travel to be the first thing that people cut when they adjust or tighten their budgets due to rising costs.

“In South Africa, what was done since the pandemic is a readjustment in prices especially to meet domestic tourism demand and pockets. What that means is that our prices are not on par with pre-Covid and therefore we are still good value for money for domestic travellers,” said the council’s CEO, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa. “Generally, most of hospitality is operating at levels below 2019.”

Clients surveyed by the short-term loan provider Wonga found more than threequarters would not be travelling this festive season, citing the petrol prices and the escalating cost of living as reasons.

The annual survey revealed that at least 27% of those travelling would be holidaying in their own province.