Go Touch Down Travel and Tours, which offers escorted tours and excursions around South Africa, has just introduced halal-friendly tours to Cape Town.

Go Touch Down’s Operations Manager, Anisa Laher, a Muslim herself, is driving the process. “We want to offer tours that allow Muslim travellers to embrace their culture while experiencing the best of South Africa,” says Zelka Spoja-Vieira, the company’s Sales and Marketing Manager.

“South Africa, and Cape Town in particular, is very welcoming of halal tourists and very well suited to meeting their needs. We have designed a specific halal tourism offering, providing everything a halal tourist would need. Our tours include eating off the menu in halal restaurants in Cape Town.  We stop five times a day to accommodate Muslim prayer times and know the locations of prayer rooms, even in shopping centres. We take our guests to historic Muslim sites around the city that would be of significance to them. And if there is a group of Muslim women travelling together, we provide them with a female Moslem guide.”

Go Touch Down Travel and Tours is also ideal for solo travellers. The company does not charge single supplements, and all its tour rates are the same, irrespective of whether guests are travelling alone or with a partner.

While Go Touch Down’s tour buses are limited to six passengers, the company can accommodate larger groups using several tour buses. “We want to create an intimate experience for our guests and when we have solo travellers, they easily feel part of the tour,” adds Spoja-Vieira.

The tour operator owns six resorts around South Africa, including two in Cape Town, and uses its own tour buses and guides. Its standardised seven-night/eight-day tours are all-inclusive (with the exception of alcohol), but Spoja-Vieira, says the company can tailor-make tours for clients on request. Add-ons to other destinations in South Africa and other African countries are also on offer.