Marketing plan for tour operator in Johannesburg

About the company 

The business is a one-man business in the tourism industry. The aim of the company is to organize sustainable tourism tours, according to the ‘community-based tourism (CBT)' principles.

Business case 

The main question was: how can AahAah Shuttle & Tours realize a substantial and profitable growth that generates enough cash flows obeying the CBT principles? 

Analysis

The analysis was conducted by observing and experiencing the product. After that, many discussions and a few brainstorm sessions were held to formulate an action plan to get from the actual situation to the desired one.

The conclusions were:

-   Internal management has to be improved; 

-   There was no clear focus and future strategy;

-   The outlines for the international tourist and for the business market were sketched; 

-   Thorough attention has been given to the marketing side.

Outcome 

-     Monitoring tool; 

-     Two new itineraries; 

-     Focus strategy; 

-     New business chart with responsibilities; 

-     Rough lay out for the web site; 

-     Rough marketing strategy.

Personal and professional development  

"Zandile mainly learned that she needs to focus first on the activities that generate enough cash. A structured work plan is necessary. She also concluded that she needs to invest first (in employees) before she can really take the step to expand. Zandile was very confident with the planned approach."

"I learned that you need to experience the culture, the people and the product first before you can make serious suggestions for change or improvement. Without patience and being accepted, you won't get anywhere. The people I worked with are very serious and dedicated. However, they will never say ‘no' to your idea, but before they really believe you, you need to get their confidence first. I also learned that I'm a better networker and communicator than I thought. Besides that, I learned that I really love to improvise. Giving advice and thinking of improvements on processes and products give me a lot of energy."

Follow up  

We will keep in touch to monitor the implementation. If the improvements are realized, we also discussed the possibility to set up a distribution point in the Netherlands.