FlySafair Awards Travel Booster Support to Four Tourism SMEs Including Flights and Marketing Exposure

Travel Bug Tours & Safaris, ART AID Africa, Legacy Collection and World Trackers will each receive 10 return domestic Business Class flights, a full-page feature in FlySafair’s digital InFlight magazine, and exposure through the airline’s website and social media channels, which reach more than 1.5 million followers. First Car Rental and Vodacom SA are also contributing car hire coupons and tailored business solutions.

The initiative builds on FlySafair’s Business Booster programme, which has provided South African small businesses with access to air travel since 2022. The new Travel Booster focuses specifically on small and medium-sized tourism businesses.

“What stands out about these four businesses is how personal they are,” says Kirby Gordon, chief marketing officer at FlySafair. “They take visitors into artists’ studios, onto tracking trails, through Durban’s food and street culture and into the story of Robben Island. For businesses like these, a flight can be the difference between staying local and meeting the people who help you grow. We’re proud to put them in the air.”

Travel Bug targets new markets

Durban-based Travel Bug Tours & Safaris plans to use the flights to meet travel trade partners and clients in Johannesburg and Cape Town, attend industry events and develop new itineraries.

The destination management company works with local guides, artists and food businesses to offer experiences ranging from Big Five safaris and Drakensberg journeys to a Durban street-art experience with local artist Kev7.

“As we grow, we want that growth to create opportunities for the guides, artists, small businesses and communities that form part of the experiences we offer,” says Dominic Naidoo.

ART AID Africa builds cultural tourism links

ART AID Africa connects Indigenous Knowledge and traditional skills with contemporary art, design, industry and new markets. The organisation plans to use the flights to develop partnerships with travel industry businesses, reach new markets and connect more visitors with South Africa’s contemporary cultural landscape.

Its experiences include visits to art studios, emerging designers, street-culture destinations and rural communities where heritage and innovation intersect.

“Winning the FlySafair Travel Booster Campaign gives us wings to take our ideas further!” says John Anthony, founder and creative strategist at ART AID Africa.

Legacy Collection expands retail network

Cape Town-based Legacy Collection produces handcrafted jewellery, art and statement pieces using original Robben Island prison fencing, connecting its products with South Africa’s history of human rights, justice and democracy.

Founder and CEO Charmaine Taylor-Claasen plans to use the flights to meet jewellery retailers, art galleries, interior designers and property developers across the country. She also aims to train retail staff to share the stories behind the products and grow Atlas + Taylor, a bespoke travel business offering private Robben Island storytelling tours.

“Winning the FlySafair Travel Booster is the opportunity Legacy Collection has been waiting for to take our business to the next level,” says Taylor-Claasen. “It gives me the freedom to travel across South Africa, meet retailers and build partnerships that will help grow our national footprint.”

World Trackers grows its network

World Trackers combines traditional tracking knowledge with guiding and wilderness experience through the 30-year partnership between Alex van den Heever and Renias Mhlongo. The pair also work with the Tracker Academy, which develops tracking skills among people from disadvantaged rural communities and helps preserve traditional tracking knowledge.

The business plans to use the flights to meet potential clients, build relationships and expand its network.

“Winning this campaign is an incredible opportunity for World Trackers to share our passion for Africa, wildlife and the ancient art of tracking with a wider audience,” say van den Heever and Mhlongo.

“A flight won't build a business on its own, but it opens doors,” says Gordon. “Our hope is that these four meet new customers and partners, and that more South Africans discover what they offer. When businesses like these grow, so do their teams, their communities and the places they call home.”

FlySafair said the programme aims to help the four businesses connect with customers and partners beyond their existing markets.