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More South Africans are diversifying their holidays and are choosing to visit the French Alps during European summer and winter, according to the 2019 Club Med Southern Africa French Mountain Holiday Report, supported by Atout France (France Tourism Development Agency).
Club Med Southern Africa saw an increase in the overall number of visitors to their French resorts, and the current trend for 2020 has shown a 11% growth in mountain destination travel. To date, of those travelling to France with Club Med, 77% are heading to the French mountains. One of the most notable shifts is in the number of first-time visitors to the slopes, who now make up 56% of Club Med's snow customer base.
Families accounted for 65% of the Club Med market and there is a rise in popularity of All-Inclusive holidays, particularly amongst young families.
Olivier Hannaert, MD of Club Med Southern Africa, affirms that there has been a marked difference in the way South African travellers book and seek to experience their holiday, with a keen focus on getting more value for their holiday financial investment.
"As customers hedge against the potential currency fluctuations of a weak Rand, paying upfront and in rand for a holiday is a strong consideration. The volatile rand seems to have positively influenced the uptake of full-board holidays and the all-inclusive holiday model that covers food, accommodation and ski essentials, with 57% of people considering all-inclusive snow holidays as more appealing, says Hannaert.
According to Club Med’s booking trends for 2019/2020, most South Africans are opting to take their vacation during the festive weeks of December and January over any other time of the year, and usually book these holidays up to a year in advance.
There has also been an increase in holidaymakers booking their March vacations in January of the same year and benefitting from discounts that come with last-minute deals. All these trends confirm the fact that, as a market, there is indeed a shift when it comes to being more financially savvy, hunting for a good deal and getting full value for money.
One of the key aspects of the report is on wellness travel – which is on the rise worldwide, with travellers increasingly seeking outdoors, sporting and wellness activities as part of their holidays.
The report shows that wellness trips account for 6.6% of all travel, but represent 16.8% of total tourism expenditure – indicating that wellness travellers spend more per trip than the average tourist and this holds true for both domestic and international travellers.
