AQUILA COLLECTION AND AIR FRANCE-KLM TARGET NEW EUROPEAN MARKETS

Bold first-mover Cape Town Safari Roadshow takes private-sector destination investment into newly visa-free Romania and Slovakia, turning international connectivity into tourism growth.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — Aquila Collection and Air France-KLM are putting private-sector investment behind a shared ambition to develop new international markets, grow travel confidence and bring more travellers to Cape Town and South Africa.

Following a recently signed MOU to collaborate on international destination marketing, the partners have taken their Cape Town Safari Roadshow into Romania and Slovakia, two increasingly attractive outbound travel markets where new visa-free access to South Africa has created an opportunity to stimulate tourism demand.

Together with Travel Advance and Paddington Tucker, the first-mover campaign introduced the travel trade to Cape Town, its safari and wine offering and a new generation of Western Cape luxury travel, including Aquila Collection’s Aquila Private Game Reserve & Spa, Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve and the newly reimagined Kuganha wellness safari lodge.

The strategy has a deliberate commercial focus, with the partners choosing to enter emerging markets early, invest in trade relationships and destination awareness, and actively build demand rather than waiting for established travel patterns to develop.

The timing is supported by increasingly compelling outbound travel data from both markets. Romanian travellers spent approximately €10 billion on travel abroad in 2025, reaching a new record, while Slovakia also recorded its highest-ever level of international leisure travel, with Slovaks undertaking 4.6 million private trips abroad during 2025, 5.1% above the previous pre-pandemic high recorded in 2019.

The Slovak travel trade is particularly relevant to the roadshow strategy, with tour operators and travel agencies serving more than 1.2 million clients during 2025 and outbound tourism accounting for more than 94% of organised travel turnover, generating approximately €1 billion in outbound travel business.

The opportunity has been strengthened further by South Africa’s decision during 2025 to extend visa-free access to both markets. Romanian ordinary passport holders received visa-free short-stay access to South Africa in 2025, while the exemption for Slovak ordinary passport holders was approved on 7 October 2025, allowing visits to South Africa without a port-of-entry visa for periods of up to 90 days per visit.

For South Africa, the opportunity is therefore not about convincing these consumers to travel internationally, but about competing for a greater share of established and growing outbound travel markets at precisely the time when an important barrier to visiting South Africa has been removed.

While visa-free access makes the journey easier, it does not automatically create tourism demand, which is why destination awareness, travel trade confidence, airline connectivity and compelling bookable experiences remain critical to converting improved access into actual arrivals.

Aquila Collection and Air France-KLM are therefore committing privately funded marketing resources to developing demand for Cape Town and South Africa, with a clear commercial return for both businesses through increased airline passengers and tourism bookings, but with an economic impact that extends considerably further.

An international visitor arriving in Cape Town spends across an extensive tourism ecosystem that includes airlines, hotels, restaurants, wine estates, attractions, transfers, guides, safari lodges, retailers and small businesses. Tourism directly supported approximately one million South African jobs in 2024 and contributed R361.7 billion, or 4.9%, to GDP, illustrating how additional international demand can feed revenue through multiple sectors, businesses and South African households.

Johan van Schalkwyk, Commercial Officer of Aquila Collection, said: “We love destination marketing because when Cape Town wins, all of us win. Our commercial objective is to grow Aquila Collection, but one of the best ways to achieve that sustainably is to grow the destination around us, and as an anchor tourism product in the Western Cape, we want to play an active role in bringing completely new markets into Cape Town.

“Romania and Slovakia are already travelling and spending internationally, so our job is to put Cape Town into that consideration set. We do not want to wait five years for a market to become established and then arrive; we want to enter early, meet the travel trade, tell the Cape Town story and work with our partners to build the market.

“When Aquila Collection and Air France-KLM invest our own marketing resources into creating international demand, the benefit extends far beyond our two companies because those travellers spend throughout the tourism economy, supporting businesses, jobs and families across South Africa.”

Air France-KLM’s extensive international network, centred around its Amsterdam and Paris hubs, provides the connectivity required to turn destination awareness into travel and connect markets across Europe and beyond with South Africa.

Wilson Tauro, Country Manager Southern Africa at Air France-KLM, said: “We are proud to work alongside South Africa’s tourism sector to take this destination to new international audiences, because connectivity is most powerful when it is supported by destination partners who are prepared to enter markets, educate the travel trade and give travellers compelling reasons to visit.

“Aquila Collection brings tremendous energy to that mission, and successful tourism growth ultimately reaches far beyond aviation and accommodation into restaurants, transport, attractions, communities and the many livelihoods supported by South Africa’s visitor economy.”

The roadshow positions Cape Town as considerably more than a city break, offering Romanian and Slovak travellers the opportunity to combine a globally recognised city with beaches, culture, food, wine, mountains and Big Five safari within one journey. Aquila Collection adds three distinctive safari experiences through Aquila Private Game Reserve & Spa, Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve and Kuganha, creating a strong proposition for the international travel trade around Cape Town, wine, safari and luxury within one Western Cape itinerary.

Strong initial trade interest in Romania and Slovakia has reinforced the opportunity, with the Cape Town Safari Roadshow positioned not as a once-off activation but as part of a longer-term approach to market development.

Paddington Tucker, a destination specialist contracted by Aquila Collection to activate and develop opportunities across the CEE and DAGH regions, said South Africa has a particularly compelling story to take into these markets.

“South Africa is an incredibly exciting travel story for Central and Eastern Europe because it brings together so many of the experiences travellers are increasingly looking for in one destination.

“What makes this moment especially exciting is that access is becoming easier at the same time as travellers in these markets are looking beyond the familiar and becoming more confident about discovering new destinations. Cape Town and South Africa have a powerful opportunity to become part of that next wave of travel consideration, but markets need to be activated, relationships need to be built and the trade needs to be given the confidence and tools to sell the destination well.

“This first engagement in Romania and Slovakia showed real curiosity and enthusiasm, and I believe there is significant potential to build these markets over time through consistent destination storytelling, strong trade partnerships and the kind of focused private-sector investment Aquila Collection and Air France-KLM are making.”

Aquila Collection and Air France-KLM intend to continue identifying emerging markets where improved access, changing traveller behaviour and international connectivity create opportunities, and then commit commercial resources to converting those opportunities into visitors.

The approach reflects a simple commercial reality: a destination may have the product and the connectivity, but sustained tourism growth also requires investment in taking that destination to the world and giving travellers a reason to choose it.

For Romania and Slovakia, where international travel demand is already established and access to South Africa has become easier, the opportunity is now to secure a greater share of that outbound market for Cape Town.