UK travellers have crowned South Africa’s Mother City, Cape Town, as their highest-rated city to visit, with a satisfaction rating of 98%.
That’s according to exclusive data from Flight Centre, which also revealed the top three domestic airlines that South Africans prefer flying with.
Flight Centre said that Airlink, South African Airways and FlySafair had satisfaction ratings of 89%, 87%, and 86%, respectively, while internationally, Singapore Airlines won gold with 86%, followed by Emirates and Airlink, both with 85%.
When it comes to international travel, the data highlighted that South Africans specifically rated Perth as their favourite city and Australia as their preferred country, while global travellers rated Perth as the best city in the world to visit and Portugal as the most preferred country.
Sue Garrett, General Manager Supply, Pricing & Marketing at Flight Centre Travel Group, said these ratings don’t come as a surprise, especially since Australia is a strong VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives) market.
She said that with SAA recently resuming the Johannesburg to Perth route and Qantas set to relaunch the same non-stop route in 2025, it’s more convenient than ever for South Africans to make the trip.
Based on more than 170 000 customer responses over the past year, the data compared the likelihood of Flight Centre customers to recommend their recent travel destinations as great places to visit.
Globally, when it came to cities, Perth’s satisfaction rating of 96% was closely followed by Brisbane and Queenstown, both at 94%.
Regarding countries, Portugal earned first place at 94%, with the Cook Islands and Australia not far behind at 93% and 92%, respectively.
Flight Centre Global Managing Director Andrew Stark said the findings show a mix of travel preferences across the travel agency’s extensive network of destinations.
“There were some surprising results that go to show it’s not always the traditionally popular destinations that have something special to offer travellers. Portugal, renowned for its historic architecture and charming culture, came out on top of the best country list, with the Cook Islands a close second, likely due to its beaches and friendly locals,” he said.
He added that Australia also performed remarkably well as the third-most recommended country, with three of its cities listed in the top 10, including Perth, Brisbane, and Melbourne.
“New Zealand was another favourite, with Queenstown and Christchurch claiming two of the spots in the top 10 cities list,” said Stark.