Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Acting CEO, Dr David Mabunda, has vowed to rekindle Ezemvelo’s relations with the travel trade, which, he says, were at the ‘lowest ever’ last year. During a press conference in Durban last week, Mabunda said: “I met at Indaba with many role-players, and we agreed on a roadmap on how to move forward.”

Mabunda says two of the main issues the travel trade has raised are unreasonable commission thresholds and the fact that Ezemvelo is not registered as a VAT vendor, which makes claiming VAT rebates a challenge.

To address the VAT issue, Ezemvelo has remodelled its pricing structure. “We hope this will address issues of VAT deregistration. With the trade’s input, we are aiming to have the proposal submitted to our executive committee before the end of November.” 

Issues with commission thresholds experienced by emerging markets have also been tackled. Says Mabunda: “Initially, our travel trade policy was not accommodating the emerging markets, as these markets were not given any discounts. This has now been reviewed and we trust that the emerging markets will now have reasons to support our business as we have ensured that they are catered for.”

He says Ezemvelo has also established a forum in conjunction with SATSA where the trade can engage with Ezemvelo. The meetings are chaired by Ezemvelo’s Acting Head of Commercial Operations, Jeffrey Makwala, and a SATSA representative and are held on a quarterly basis.

Says Mabunda: “These meetings have played a critical role in addressing a number of misunderstandings which existed between us, SATSA and the travel trade. These issues included, amongst others, the way we maintain our infrastructure.”

An annual event, where the wildlife organisation will celebrate Tourism Month with the travel trade, will also be organised. “Recently we took our top trade customers to St Lucia and Didima, where we celebrated more than 120 years of conservation,” Mabunda adds.