African countries are seeing a surge in international travel, fueled by luxury safari experiences with repeat visitors. Returning travelers remain excited by the continent’s iconic wildlife. However, they want to mix up their experiences beyond spotting game from the back of a Jeep.
We spoke to a half-dozen operators of multi-day safari tours and safari hospitality brands to find out the latest booking data and guest preferences. We came away with seven emerging trends we expect will shape safari tourism in the year ahead.
1. Increased Spending on Safari Trips
Adventure-booking platform TourRadar said Africa has emerged as a major outbound market for North American and European travelers.
Its 2023 search and booking data showed that trips valued over $3,800 (€3,500) had doubled since 2019, fueled by demand for premium safari experiences. The average trip spend for safaris specifically has increased by 65%, said Aziaz Sheikh, TourRadar Head of Community.
Travelers going on organized adventures to Africa in 2023 had increased by 33%, compared to 2019, with a “huge appetite for safaris.” Travel to Tanzania was up 48% and Kenya was up 22% overall.
“The one thing that is unique for the U.S. as a source market [for safaris] is that Tanzania is the biggest selling destination (32%), and then South Africa (20%), with Kenya a distant third (13%),” said Sheikh. “This differs from the rest of the world, which generally sees a balance between the 3 destinations.”
Philip Rendel, founder of Where It All Began, a Southern Africa travel planning company, said that 2024 bookings have so far seen a more than a 60% increase in spending. Rendel said the average spend for 2023 was around $8,201 (150,000 rand) for two people. For 2024, the company sees $13,668,34 (250,000 rand) per average trip.
Tour operator Backroads said its bookings for active African safaris for 2024 are nearly double this year’s, when the average spend was $5,077.
“When we recently asked our travelers what destination is on their travel bucket list, African safaris were frequently mentioned,” said Tom Hale, founder and CEO of Backroads.
Travel bookings headed into 2024 also showed safari travelers are looking to stay for longer stretches — by an average of at least two days or more.
Rendel noted that average trip durations have extended from 14 to 20 days in the past year: Where It All Began’s forward bookings are showing an increase in repeat customers from 25% in 2023 to 75%.
Andre Van Kets, co-founder of tour planning company Discover Africa, said it has had a wave of pent-up pandemic demand for the past year-and-a-half, with an average spend of $9,600 in 2023. Discover Africa has also noted a shift from 10-day to 14-day trips over the past year.
While the revenge spending might be petering out heading into 2024, according to Van Kets, he expects seasonal booking trends between January and mid-March to maintain pre-pandemic levels as a new wave of repeat customers emerges.
2. Returning for More Immersive Experiences
These return visitors are looking for more involved experiences, with safari itineraries across multiple countries instead of single-country trips, according to Discover Africa Head of Product Murielle Mignot-Vegezzi.
With a repeat booking rate of 18%, the company sees multi-day travel combinations like Namibia and Botswana, with visits to Victoria Falls spread across Zambia and Zimbabwe. Incorporating gorilla tracking in East Africa has also become more popular. Mignot-Vegezzi said improved flight connections among African countries, especially Kenya, and flexibility to take longer travel windows added to the trend.
Pairing different experiences with traditional safari itineraries drove travel to less-visited African countries, said Rendel of Where It All Began.
New destinations are grabbing travelers’ attention, in addition to the safari capitals of Kenya and Tanzania. An example is Zambia, said Rendel, spurred on by activities like canoeing on the Zambezi River.
Similarly, Toronto-headquartered luxury tour operator Kensington Tours sees “revisiting Africa for another safari adventure” as a growing trend. Overall the company has seen 30% repeat visitors in 2023, and a 9% increase in trip spending.
“Many first-timers, after just a few game drives, become enamored with the safari experience they’ve long dreamed of,” said Andrew Drummond, manager of product at Kensington Tours.
“On subsequent visits, we provide them with deeper, more immersive experiences to extend beyond the usual ‘Big 5’ (rhino, elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard) safaris, offering explorations on foot, canoe, boat, and even helicopter to give varied perspectives,” said Drummond.
Kensington’s South Africa itineraries have been adapted to include a city stop in Cape Town and a safari component in Kruger National Park. In Cape Town, guests can take a cable car ride up Table Mountain and a mountain bike ride back down. The trip includes excursions to see Cape Point Peninsula penguins and whale watching before heading to a Kruger bushveld stay at Sabi Sands for tracking the “big five” animal species.
A Namibia multi-day tour combines the desert dunes of Sossusvlei, an ancient rock art experience at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Twyfelfontein, with the more traditional tracking of desert-adapted elephants in the Etosha National Park, added Drummond.
