| About Us |
Travel.co.za started in 1999 as a specialist online travel company with the TOURVEST group and over the years it has quietly gone about it's business of providing a variety of services and products to it's loyal followers. At the time, the South African internet travel market was tiny with little over a couple of hundred thousand users. There was no critical mass to justify launching an expensive world class internet travel facility. Today, however, with over 6 million internet users, hundreds of online companies and loads of techno friendly suppliers, the time is right - and it's our time.
One of the things that set us apart from any of our competitors is our backing. As a division of TOURVEST - South Africa's Leading Tourism Company - we enjoy the benefits of preferred relationships and pricing from ALL of the quality travel suppliers in the market. From airlines, hotels, car rental companies, tour operators, and other industry players to the fellow Companies within the group, Travel.co.za enjoys the unique name that is TRAVEL. Our sister companies within our division includes industry leaders in American Express Travel Services, Seekers Travel, Maties Travel, IndoJet Travel, Cumming Travel, and WorldWide Travel Brokers. Impressive... we know! Rest assured that your holiday is in the hands of professionals.
 Tourvest:
Travel.co.za is such an amazing brand as it encompasses everything that is TRAVEL, and while we serve as gateway for all types of travellers, home & abroad, our primary market is the South African traveller and as such, Travel.co.za falls within the Travel Services division of Tourvest. Herewith an overview of the other divisions within Tourvest:
1.) Tourvest Inbound
This division brings in more than 120,000 overseas leisure tourists to our gorgeous South African shores annually. Through the fantastic brands within this division, they design international holiday packages and markets them through a network of wholesale operators in the United Kingdom, the Rest of Europe, USA and the Far East.
2.) Travel Retail
Travel Retail is further spread into 4 ‘sub' units, focused on the shopping needs of the travelling consumer. These units are;
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Souvenirs, Crafts & Curios – Brands included in this unit are The Tigers Eye, Out of Africa, African Eco, Indaba Lifestyle, African Origins, Cape Point South Africa, Kirstenbosch, The Parks Shop and Ganzee (The Island Shop in Barbados)
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Jewellery – Brands included in this unit are Lorraine Efune, The Diamond Works,
Murdocks, Tanur Collection and Forma Viva
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Destination Restaurants – Brands included in this unit are La Med in Clifton, Berthas Restaurant, Quay Four, Black Marlin, Mountain Zebra, The Hildebrand, Tsitsikamma Restaurant, Addo Elephant Park and Tank Restaurant and Sushi Bar
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Tourvest Duty Free – This unit serves in-flight duty-free operations for select international airlines which include South African Airways, Kenya Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air Mauritius and TAAG.
3.) Tourvest Products
Through this division, Tourvest offers a wide variety of activities and products through facilities owned and managed by the group in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia and Uganda. These include white-water rafting, elephant back safaris, hot-air ballooning, game drives & cultural villages. To compliment these, Tourvest has acquired a strategic portfolio of boutique hotels and game lodges at key tourist destination, which include Relais Hotels, The Adderley Hotel, Casa Do Sol, The Bantry Bay Luxury Suites, Leisure Bay Luxury Suites, Simons Town Quayside Hotel, Makalali Private
Game
Lodge, Imbabali Zambezi Safari Lodge, Lesedi Cultural Village and Shakaland.
4.) Financial Services
This division holds the rights to the American Express Foreign Exchange Franchise in Southern Africa and thus operates a network in excess of 50 branches at prime tourist sites.
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Tourvest Travel Services:
This division comprises 9 industry leading brands which include;
a strong, proudly South African Travel Management Company offering quality and value for money to the business and leisure markets. An innovator among it's peers and strategic negotiator for it's clients.
Internationally recognisable, a leading global Travel Management Company that offers premium products and services to it's impressive client list, both locally and internationally.
A boutique style Travel Management company located in the heart of Rosebank offering the personal touch to all it's clients. Specialising in custom tours, business travel and the incentive trips so popular with large corporate companies.
A legendary brand in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, Maties Travel has spread it's wings to include Bellville – offering personal service to it's loyal base of customers – both leisure and corporate, Maties Travel continues to be the choice agent for the locals.
5.) IndoJet Travel
Another Western Cape brand, specialising in corporate travel management to it's loyal clients in the western cape.
6.) World Wide Travel Brokers
This operation is one of the reasons why we have such awesome deals. WorldWide Travel Brokers are our very own Wholesale Operator, who negotiate the absolute best rates to anywhere in the world. From renting a Ferrari in Rome to a simple entrance ticket to
Madame
Tussauds in London. Best of all, they are located within our office which means speedy quoting and booking – no more waiting days on end for quotes, confirmations and documentation. Service excellent – guaranteed.
7.) And saving the best for last………….. us – travel.co.za – nuff said!
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Preferred Relationships:
Between the nine awesome brands within the Tourvest Travel Services division, we boast the management of more than 50% of South Africa's Company's travel arrangement. Collectively we give our range of suppliers billions of
Rands – ridiculous, we know! Because of this buying power, the suppliers absolutely love us – Each of the brands has a distinctive market and thus each support a portfolio of ‘preferred' suppliers to best fullfill the needs of it's clients. This is pretty much the norm in the travel industry, where the travel agencies / companies select preferred suppliers based on their client or market, nich, expertise or spend. With travel.co.za, we are in a UNIQUE situation. By being part of a group of companies, and targeting pretty much ANY type of traveller and demographic, we get to pick & choose our preferred partners – and guess who we chose?
ALL OF THEM – We can categorically state that we are the ONLY large travel company in South Africa that has ZERO bias when it comes to suppliers. Our only condition being that the supplier be reputable, offer quality service, products and pricing. We're in the holiday business – and holidays are meant to be fun. A 2-star hotel in a dingy part of town just ain't fun.
What does this mean? Well, we've told the suppliers that Travel.co.za is a platform for them to compete. For this reason, there is a chance that while browsing, you may come across multiple packages to the exact same destination and/or hotel – for the exact same time of year. If the pricing and value are the same, you then get to choose your package based on who the supplier is – as an example, Mauritius – would you choose Holiday Tours, Beachcomber Tours or Thompsons Holidays? – it's your choice. Look out for the supplier logo on the holiday.
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