7 Trends Safari Operators in Africa Are Seeing For 2024

30.12.2023 - 14:09 / skift.com / Tom Hale / Selene Brophy

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.

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