Could SA be a global Experiential Travel leader?
In the respected international travel journal Skift’s take on the three most prominent global trends in travel in 2024, their “State of Travel 2024” report highlights “Experiential Travel” as one of the key trends shaping the travel industry. Don’t be misguided by the title though, this is not just about normal travel experiences, it is about indulging in different kinds of experiences altogether, and it’s not just a fad either. According to the Skift report, “Travelers are increasingly prioritising unique, memorable experiences over material goods. This shift is expected to drive the experiential travel market to exceed $1 trillion by 2025. Travel companies are encouraged to offer more curated and personalised experiences to meet this growing demand”.
The Rise of Experiential Travel
What exactly then is Experiential Travel? We have long known that today’s younger generation is very much more aware of sustainability and global ecology issues, and they tend to be invested in this in everything they do. Travel is no exception, and with that generation being a huge percentage of global travellers now, sustainability has infiltrated every aspect of making travel choices. It is not just about deciding to fly less to avoid burning fossil fuels or practising standard sustainable practices on the ground either – it has now become a part of the type of experiences people want to enjoy.
Experiential Travellers want to travel not just to lie on beaches or go bungee jumping, but to experience real-life preservation and cultural initiatives and give something back to societies that practice a more sustainable way of life – or sometimes just to become fully immersed in the locals' lives. It could be through wine farms, agriculture or wildlife. An international example is when some people visit Ashrams in the East which provides food for the community. An Experiential Travel visit there would be, for example, you would be working at actually providing the community food as a part of your stay.
Endless possibilities
Of course, when I first heard about this trend my ears immediately pricked up and my imagination turned to the endless possibilities that we in South Africa can offer Experiential Travellers. Enterprising game farms could offer a “ranger for the weekend” package giving travellers a first-hand experience at what it takes to be involved in real wildlife preservation. The nitty gritty and not always-so-pretty aspects of this would be fascinating to a real sustainability enthusiast and animal lover.
So many other choices too, like being a part of?cultural village life spending the day beading or learning to cook the local cuisine. Spending time on wine or olive farms, but really getting out there and learning about the growing and harvesting of?the produce and about the wine or olive oil-making process. For real sustainability enthusiasts, there are so many other more meaningful, experiences too, including?participating in beach cleanups, deforestation programs and even the de-weeding of alien plant species. For those with big hearts, Africa has so much need and they can become immersed in things like food-feeding programs for the underprivileged.
A collaborative effort
It seems that whenever we look at emerging global travel trends, South Africa has so many possibilities, and the potential to be a world leader in so many of them. Many of my articles have illustrated this, which shows the massive potential we have for all kinds of travel experiences in this country. So we need only to keep abreast of what’s happening in travel on a global scale and create a travel and hospitality industry that consistently strives to offer something unique and irresistibly attractive to international travellers. With a collaborative effort, our entrepreneurial skills, and the determination that has driven us to achieve so much in other areas, I firmly believe that S.A. could be a global Experiential Travel leader.