Bogus travel agencies have mushroomed of late, many of them driven by social media and artificial intelligence (AI).
According to Travelnews.co.za, a report on bot activity has revealed that travel was the second most-targeted industry for attacks, with bad bot traffic increasing from 37.4% of all web traffic in 2023 to 44.5% in 2024.
Marnie Wilking, chief security officer at Booking.com, told the publication there had been a 500%-900% increase in online accommodation scams in the past 18 months.
Kele Lekalake, executive manager at Harvey World Travel, has urged travellers to prioritise caution. “If the offer is too good to be true, it probably is,” she said.
She noted multiple red flags travellers should be wary of when finalising their bookings. These include:
- high-pressure demands for immediate payment;
- requests for credit card details from unverified agencies;
- unsolicited messages with suspicious links; and
- ghost social media accounts — even those with convincing comment sections and large numbers of followers.
Part of why these scams are so prevalent is the nature of the industry itself, Lekalake said. Because upfront costs for starting a travel agency are not high, it is easy for scammers to enter the sector and quickly disappear with would-be travellers’ money.
Lekalake advised would-be travellers to conduct thorough research before making a booking. For travel agencies in South Africa to be verifiable, they must be registered members of the Association of Southern African Travel Agents (Asata), which renews membership annually.
She stressed that people should trust their instincts if an offer feels suspicious to them. “Don’t be shy to confirm with head office: is this a member of yours?”
Travellers should exercise even more caution when dealing with unsolicited calls and messages, she said. Basic questions to ask themselves include, “Where would these people be getting my numbers from? And have I actually given my number out to receive a travel special?”
The one thing you don't want to do is to find yourself transiting through an airport and you don't have the necessary documentation. You may be sent back home, which means you've lost that entire trip, worth perhaps R60,000, because you didn't use an expert
— Kele Lekalake, executive manager at Harvey World Travel
Lekalake said another way to verify the credentials of a travel agency is to check if it has a head office or is a franchisee of a larger travel agency, such as Harvey World Travel, which has branches countrywide.
Though online bookings are convenient and fast, Lekalake said the personalised experience of booking through a verified travel agency was hard to beat, especially for those travelling abroad, as the agency will “make sure that they book you with legit companies in that country, so that when you arrive there, you're not stranded”.
“The one thing you don't want to do is to find yourself transiting through an airport and you don't have the necessary documentation. You may be sent back home, which means you've lost that entire trip, worth perhaps R60,000, because you didn't use an expert.”
Reflecting on the impact women are having on the travel sector, August being Women's Month, Lekalake said: “Women entrepreneurs bring unique strengths to the travel industry, such as diverse perspectives and exceptional customer care.”
She said there was, however, still a lot of scope for the promotion of women to more senior roles. “I think the industry has a significant number of women ... however, [if] we're looking at senior roles, there's a lot of improvement to be done.”
Lekalake said Harvey World Travel’s franchises were more than 70% women-owned and managed, highlighting the strides already being made in female representation.
She advised women to “fight for your space and protect your legacy at all costs”.
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