There has been a rapid increase in businessman who would rather opt for business class for four- or five-star accommodation during their trips at various airlines & hotels .The ratio is 9 out 10 and why not, given this great opportunity to go anywhere they  want them to meet  at.

South Africa’s business executives prefer lodging in luxury hotels and being driven around when they travel to other African countries to network and clinch deals.

This is according to travel management company Corporate Traveller Statistics, which said its study had shown that the locals chose the comforts of being closer to home, mostly travelling to Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Mozambique.

Corporate Traveller general manager Raylene Pienaar said the executives who travelled the continent opted for top hotels that charged a minimum of R3 000 a night.

According to corporate traveller statistics, close to half of business travellers to Africa – 48 percent – stay in five-star hotels, while 42 percent reside in four-star lodgings and seven out of 10 are also chauffeur driven during the stay,” Pienaar said.

The company said South African executives put security as a major motivation to choose where they would stay when travelling to Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Dar es Salaam, the Democratic Republic of Congo and most north and central African countries.

It said they chose chauffeur services (such as from Emirates on-line)  ahead of car hire as they placed emphasis on the mode of transport to use during the visits.

Pienaar said the hotel industry in the continent was set to receive more revenue in the next four years. The report said Mauritian five-star hotels’ total room revenue would increase by a projected 12.5 percent annually to R6.9 billion in 2020 up from R3.8bn last year. The firm’s hospitality industry expert, Pietro Calicchio, said: “Overall room revenue in South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius, Kenya and Tanzania rose 6.7 percent in 2015 the largest gain since 2011.”