Tourvest Products, a division of the Tourvest group of companies, is in the process of consolidating its portfolio of owned and managed hotels and lodges under a single umbrella in order to take advantage of growth opportunities presented by an improved economic outlook and spin offs from the World Cup.
Tourvest successfully handled the travel arrangements, accommodation and transfers of more than 70 000 visitors over the duration of the World Cup and brings about 110 000 tourists to South Africa every year.
In terms of the consolidation exercise, all properties owned and or managed by Tourvest will fall under African Hotels and Adventures (AHA). Up until now AHA has been responsible for the sales, marketing and central reservations office for the group’s game lodges. The expanded AHA will incorporate Relais Hotels. AHA will continue with the management and marketing of the existing portfolio and will also look to expand the properties under management into areas of the country where Tourvest Inbound Operations and Tourvest Travel Services already conduct business.
From a sales perspective the hotels and lodges under AHA management will be divided into three sub-categories, each with its own specialised sales team, to cater for niche tourism markets. These consist of city hotels, lifestyle retreats and lodges. Each Tourvest property is graded in the four or five star category by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa. The only exception to this is Lesedi Cultural Village, which is graded three stars and the lodges located within Zimbabwe which are ungraded but fall within the parameters set by the grading council.
In addition to Lesedi, the hotels and lodges currently under Tourvest management consist of the iconic Casa do Sol in Mpumalanga, Imbabala Lodge on the Zambezi and the newly opened Elephant Camp in Victoria Falls, Makalali private game lodge in Limpopo, the Adderley Hotel, L’Ermitage Franschhoek Chateau & Villas, Bantry Bay Luxury Suites, Simon’s Town Quayside Hotel, Leisure Bay Luxury Suites and Harbour Bridge Hotel & Suites all located in the Western Cape.
CEO of Tourvest Products Gary Elmes said the consolidation exercise was part of the group’s strategy of increasing the number of hotels and lodges under its management in anticipation of a global recovery as well as an anticipated double-digit growth in tourist arrivals for a few years following the World Cup.
“We believe we offer independent hotel owners a number of benefits including integrated support functions, access to the e-Res reservation tool which plugs into as many as 14 online channels including leading global travel distribution systems such as Galileo, Amadeus, Expedia.com, Booking.com as well as the properties’ own online web booking engine and the large volumes of tourists sourced by the group’s travel agency and tour operator businesses. In addition, AHA will adopt a soft branding approach where the AHA brand will discreetly support the brands of the individual hotels and lodges.
“Our focus is not limited to South Africa but extends throughout Africa and especially to those areas where the Tourvest group already has a presence. Tourvest is involved to varying degrees in a number of African countries and we see this as an opportunity to grow the AHA brand into these countries,” said Elmes.
Blogger Muzi Mohale
I’m Muzi Mohale, based in Roodepoort (South Africa). Blogger with www.travelwires.com. Love Travelwires.com since I get to travel our beautiful country through blogging and get first hand tourism experience.
