I have a dream…to travel 7 SADC countries in 49 days and blog about journey (DAY 1)

This is my short term plan which I’m hoping to accomplish within the next few months before Tourism Indaba 2010. It involves visiting the Southern African Development Community to blog about tourism in each country. I hope to spend one week in each country to cover all the important points as listed below.

WHY THIS TRAVEL?
1. To blog about the unique tourism products found in each country.
2. To blog about how tourism products in these countries use technology on their daily operations.
3. To profile each country’s tourism body.
4. To blog on how the soccer world cup will benefit tourism in each country.
5. To establish contacts with industry PR in each country.
6. To introduce the local tourism industry to Travelwires.com and share notes with fellow travel bloggers from each country.
7. To identify business linkages for South African tourism operators.
8. To finally produce an eBook about journey, highlighting lessons learnt.

WHO WILL HOST YOU?
I intend approaching each country’s tourism body and request to be their guest for a week and ideally would prefer using budget to luxury lodging facilities to get a balanced overview on products offered.

WHICH COUNTRIES WILL YOU VISIT?
Will not be visiting all SADC countries, but only those closer to South Africa namely:
1. Swaziland
2. Mozambique
3. Lesotho
4. Botswana
5. Namibia
6. Zambia
7. Zimbabwe

WHO WILL FUND THE TRIP?
Private business to sponsor trip – This journey involves a lot of travelling and it is pretty expensive. A sponsorship that would cover travel expenses would greatly be ideally such as an airline or car rentals company coming on board.

or

Do a self drive – Since my jalopy (KIA RIO 2005) has already clocked 103,000km…I would definitely require a standby mechanical backup, in case I get stuck in the middle of my journey. Ideally a KIA dealership offering a backup within all the routes to be travelled would best suite a self drive.

WHAT RESOURCES DO I HAVE?
1. A willing and able jalopy (KIA RIO 2005) – already on 103,000km would need a serious service and constant supply of fuel.
2. Very basic Olympus digital camera – it’s too limiting, I need a camera used by professional photographers with all the bells and whistles.
3. Willingness to make my dream a reality.

WHAT RESOURCES AND HELP DO I NEED?
1.    Professional camera, preferable with video capabilities to offer video interviews.
2.    Wireless internet connection, will need internet connection throughout journey.
3.    Cellphone roaming, to be accessible throughout journey.
4.    PR for my journey, to help get media coverage throughout journey.
5.    Guidance in arranging journey.
6.     Sponsorships on making trip a reality.
7.    Contact details for all tourism bodies of listed countries.
8.    Business cards, to exchange with all contacts along journey.
9.    Travelwires.com branded clothing, will be my mobile billboard punting the blog.
10.  Audio recorder to offer sound interviews.

WHAT NEXT?
I need to get started with making contacts with all role players involved in the food chain. I’ll be blogging about progress often to keep you updated on achievements and failures.

MY APPEAL TO YOU
I’m aware this will not be possible without the help from other people and trusting that since we’re all in the tourism industry, I’ll get your support. All the above is raw data of my plan, I need your help as this is my first such journey and I have no experience in arranging a trip of this scale. I also welcome your constructive criticism…

Related Stories

• First 100 Zuma days bears fruit for tourism – TBCSA
• Next is SADC destination marketing organizations, which has the best designed website?
• Tour d’Afrique Bicycle Expedition Company introduces Dream Tours
• Is the recession biting on your travel business?
• Swazi Trails and Dirty Boots circumnavigates Swaziland in 12 days

FREE  for 30 days

 Email This  Print This