The online travel industry is booming, with local companies reporting annual increases of between 45% and 200% in online bookings.
Flysaa.com says it has seen significant growth since it became the first to launch an online air travel booking service in March 2001.
"We [flysaa.com] have achieved a consistent year-on-year growth of 200% each year for online sales," says Richard Mkhondo, executive manager of corporate communications at flysaa.com.
The other airlines offering online bookings say they have also seen satisfactory growth.
"Bookings average out to 38 900 a month, which means that 70% of our bookings are done online," says Desmond O` Conner, commercial manager at 1time airline.
Kulula.com experienced a 45% increase in online bookings over the past year to increase its total of online customers to 650 000 per year, says Gidon Novick, the airline`s executive director.
This follows Kulula`s recent online revenue record of R75 million during November last year.
The increase in online bookings is a combination of a huge shift of passengers from the big airlines and a 20% increase in the overall market, says O` Conner.
With the number of travellers booking online increasing exponentially, 1time recently acquired a 157-seater MD82 aircraft and is expecting another in March, says O` Conner. This will double the 1time fleet, which used to consist of three 110-seater aircrafts.
Experts believe more people are turning to online bookings because of the cheaper ticket prices. "By cutting out the travel agent, there is no 20% distribution fee, so it is cheaper for the traveller," says O` Conner.
More than a cheap seat
Besides the lower ticket prices, online flight bookings offer travellers several other advantages.
Online bookings are more flexible and are usually faster. Kulula sees itself as a "two-minute Web site", says Novick. "This is the amount of time it should take a customer to complete their booking."
In addition, a Web site doesn`t have to conform to office hours. "Time is not an issue; 20% of our business is done after hours," says Novick.
Online booking convenience includes e-ticketing, which "offers convenience at check-in, without the worry of losing or misplacing a paper ticket", says Mkhondo.
A lot of the online bookings are coming from the corporate sector. "45% of our clients are business deals," says Novick.
The boom is only beginning, say the airlines. "We expect to keep growing for the next three to four years," says O` Conner, so 1time is looking to add more flight routes to its current schedule, he adds.
Travel agency Flight Centre has also added online bookings to its portfolio.
The online booking trend seems to be restricted to domestic routes and hasn`t yet infiltrated South Africans` eagerness for international travel. "We have noticed that with online bookings people are comfortable in domestic travel, but when it comes to international bookings, there is still the need for interaction with a travel consultant," says Dayle White, MD of Flight Centre.
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