Tourvest Destination Management
Announces The Launch Of Tourvest DMC
Martin Wiest
Martin Botha
It gives us great pleasure to announce the merger of Welcome Tourism Services, Your Africa, SST and Focus Tours to form Tourvest DMC. This union follows a long legacy of combining forces through consolidating market-specific inbound travel brands and forming greater operating capacity in more markets, including Italy, North America, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Scandinavia and other European German-speaking countries (such as Switzerland and Austria). The rich history shared, a growing global footprint and collective expertise serve to sharpen Tourvest DMC’s edge in all aspects of the incoming travel experience. The new brand’s vision is to take its place as the leading inbound tour operator in Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.
The merge serves to consolidate the four independent brands and their many moving parts into one entity, simplifying both relationships and operating procedures into one synergistic business. Already sharing the same goals and working ethos, it stands to reason that they are stronger together. Says Martin Wiest (CEO, Tourvest Destination Management) “The Tourvest Destination Management inbound business pillars Welcome Tourism Services, Your Africa, SST and Focus Tours have, over the years, developed distinctive core strengths, learnings, cultural variations and knowledge. Combined, they give us an eclectic mix of unbeatable strengths. While this will undoubtedly make us a better business, more importantly, it will directly benefit our suppliers and clients in the classical synergistic fashion.”
Tourvest DMC’s winning formula combines technical travel expertise with intimate knowledge of the country’s cultural practices, which gives their team the ability to accurately tailor-make experiences that fulfil travel aspirations. Long-standing relationships with their clients and a strategic network of industry stakeholders are a testament to the professionalism of their service and dedication to offering only the best.
The Sales & Marketing Directors across the brands, Suzanne Benadie and Simona Battani share the same view; “We have continually evolved to support the growing demands of our international client base. We recognise the need to constantly adapt to our dynamic travel trade industry and make every effort to understand changes in our client’s needs. We will continue to ensure that expectations are met at every touchpoint, in both a technological and human to human capacity.” But it is ultimately Tourvest DMC’s people that take the business from just being a well-oiled machine to an intensely personal, highly motivated and passionate collection of skilled individuals. The business understands that this industry is really about one thing; impacting the lives of travellers through extraordinary experiences.
The new consolidated brand will commence operation on 1 September 2017. Naturally, a change like this comes with necessary internal structural changes, which will be the core focus leading up to the official launch date. Says Martin Botha, COO of the Tourvest South Africa Inbound division; “We understand the value of relationships, and wherever possible we will preserve the status quo. In this fast-changing world of travel distribution, we have to adapt to better serve our clients.” Specifics in terms of company structure (including key executives, account managers, administrative and support teams) will be communicated to
partners in due course, well in advance of the official changeover.