Go Touch Down Travel & Tours has signalled its intention to work more closely with the travel trade in 2018. The company is an affiliate of the Touch Down Group which was founded in 1993.
The holding company, which specialises in unique vacation and hospitality options for both leisure and corporate travellers, now operates in five countries. Its head office is in Johannesburg and other offices are based in the US, Canada, Australia and Indonesia.
Over 300 000 bed nights are booked each year at its six properties, a collection of upmarket facilities in major tourist locations around South Africa.
They include Dunkeld Country & Equestrian Estate in Dullstroom, Mpumalanga; Humala River Lodge in the Songimvelo Game Reserve in Mpumalanga; Seasons Golf, Leisure & Spa in Hartbeestpoort close to Johannesburg and Pretoria; Burgundy Luxury Apartments in the Durbanville wine area of Cape Town; Ocean Shores near Bloubergstrand in Cape Town and Shearwater on Sea on the Garden Route.
Five years ago, the business expanded its leisure options by creating a tours division that offers small escorted tours and excursions organised around these six properties. Tours are confined to an intimate six people, depart weekly with no blackout periods and are accompanied by local guides. The company owns a fleet of vehicles, does not charge single supplements for tours, and offers its travellers the use of a cellphone during their stay.
In the Cape there’s a Mother City programme with 28 excursions, as well as a high adventure option on the Garden Route that includes shark and crocodile cage diving, bungee jumping, tandem sky diving and abseiling. There’s an Mpumalanga safari option incorporating the best of the Panorama Route and game viewing in two reserves. There is also a Cape Town/safari combination.
From its head office in Johannesburg, Anisa Laher, Operations Manager, told Tourism Update: “We have successfully hosted over 4 000 North American travellers in the last few years and, as a result of this success, would like to open up to new markets. We invite the trade to work with us this year and complement their current offering to their clients. They must bear in mind that the absence of a middleman gives us complete control over the quality and safety of clients’ experience as well as good value for money.”
