The pre-Covid-19 travel industry saw international demand for luxury incentive safari reward trips to engage top performers and provide them with 5-star experiences of southern Africa’s unique flora and fauna bush veld landscapes and luxury Big 5 safari travel.

South Africa, as the gateway to Africa, has always benefited from international perspectives as a sophisticated destination coupled with good infrastructure and top class hospitality, transportation networks and luxury incentive gifting; ranging  from gold and diamonds to unique cultural and wildlife keepsakes to take back home as safari incentive memories.

According to executive chairman of Dragonfly Africa, Rupert Jeffries,” On a worldwide basis, South Africa in particular, is rated extremely highly in terms of trip satisfaction and achievement in delivering the trip of a lifetime, and return visits are quite common, either by the company or by individuals who participated.”

Local Incentive Travel Safari Highlights

As South Africa slowly opens up travel restrictions in August 2020 with the start of intra-provincial leisure travel for South Africans within their own provinces, its international borders remain closed for the meantime. However, what is apparent is that the more our global travel future becomes unpredictable;  so the increase in demand for more once-in-a-life time travel experiences – and for top incentive achievers there is still a lot to be discovered within the borders of our own vast and untamed country.

Says adventure extraordinaire Peter Hayward, your bespoke host on every 5-star mobile tented safari camp to unique safari destinations in Africa over the past 25 years: “Domestic incentive locations continue to offer all the same benefits, beauty and unique safari and luxury wildlife experiences today as they did for our booming inbound international travel groups albeit now, the local travel industry is able to negotiate the group’s travel budget within one travel currency.

“When CEOs and Event Professionals look for the ultimate getaway for their top performers, they look for something the guests themselves cannot access in their private capacity – what’s the point of taking them on an experience every ‘common run of the mill tourist’ can buy anyway?

“I challenge any South African to say they have journeyed to every corner of their own country and most have certainly not been entertained in 5-star safari luxury, as enjoyed by our visiting royalty and Hollywood guests of the recent past. In fact, I would go so far as to say, that here in Africa, on our own continent, we can produce a superior, more impactful and certainly more memorable and meaningful incentive trip compared to anything offered outside South Africa’s own borders.”

Growth for Local Ecotourism

With a long travel history of hosting world-class safaris, in tandem with ecotourism and heritage tourism principles on the ground and within communities populated around the country’s national parks, Peter says, “There is great potential to grow our own home-grown incentive travel industry on local soil and at the same time, channel the benefits back into local destination upliftment.”

“Local incentive travel groups will find that in addition to enjoying the full benefits of their own country in 5-star luxury experience there is also the opportunity to ‘do good’ with the aligned benefits of corporate social investment programmes which offer a common goal towards upliftment for those in need, especially within the cultural, artisan and educational and wildlife protection sectors.”

Benefits of domestic incentive travel trips include:

Family Incentives: Exceptional and authentic travel experiences motivate and recognise participants for their increased levels of performance in support of organisational goals. This translates to being treated to the best of the best; the opportunity of bringing partners along on the safari trip so it can be enjoyed together and, even more prestigious, to bring the entire family and enjoy a family safari expedition on a South African (family-only) safari incentive.

From the Ground Up: Storytelling, connection, mutual understanding and immersion in the local culture create personalized additional value to the significant experience of the incentive travel participants. This can include historic discoveries, anthropology, paleontology and astrology, and further study of the stars as well as natural biomes and species. Themed safari events such Gastronomic tours or Celebrity Chef cooking courses engage the group further in the silver service safari dining tent.

Unique & Specific Experiences: Wow elements include celebrity entertainment, wine and whiskey tastings, diamond tours and full staged entertainment or product launches with a twist such as the launch of new car, hot air balloon safaris, vintage aeroplane travel, helicopter tours, safari golf, and swimming with dolphins and whales.

Silver Service Safari South Africa: Supported by only the very best service South Africa has to offer from personal butlers and game guards to Safari Clubs for younger participants, and spa health and beauty salons in each tented mobile safari camp; Hayward’s Grand Safari Company is recognised as a world leader in safari events and expeditions and is touted the best wildlife experience by South African Tourism’s own Lilizela Awards.

Says Peter Hayward, “We look forward to hosting our local Chairmen of the Board, CFOs and CEOs to a taste of true authentic African safaris on home grown soil until our eager international incentive travel groups are able to return to our shores once again.

Choose your 5-star Safari incentive camp location destination here https://www.haywardsafaris.com/camp-locations/