Tourism Update recently published an opinion column by Reinhart Mecklenburg titled ‘OTAs: Part of the industry but not part of the family’.  I was somewhat taken aback by this article, having spent the last 14 years actively participating in the growth of Expedia in Africa, a company that has been at the forefront of online travel on the continent. 

Since the Expedia group’s start in Africa, we have succeeded in partnering with thousands of hotels, airlines, tour-operators and car-rental companies in and around the continent. All of us have created jobs, improved the African people’s access to travel, made the sector more competitive and enhanced Africa’s reputation as an international tourist destination.  We have contributed to boosting our African tourism industry and economy. 

At Expedia, we have invested heavily in creating guest-centred and value-added experiences by making travel easier for consumers, eliminating friction with fewer clicks to purchase and providing consumers with choice and transparency.  For travellers in Africa, this means being inspired by and being able to research travel in local languages, being able to pay for travel in local currencies and being able to use whatever device they have access to – whether PC, mobile, tablet – for their travel needs.  We have developed a travel marketplace where consumers feel confident to invest their time and money.

I am proud to work for a business like Expedia in Africa. Our Expedia team here is a family of individuals who are passionate about tourism, people and our country. Since we started here, we have employed and trained some of the best people in the business and we have had the privilege to work with and learn from some of the great leaders in our industry. Our Expedia team has grown by more than 100% in the past year alone and we now have offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, to better serve our partners so we understand their businesses, their challenges and their objectives and we can help them attract travellers from across the continent and around the world, delivering value to their bottom line. 

As service providers, we – just like Mr Mecklenburg – have a responsibility to our accommodation partners.  We work hard to deliver value and make their lives easier. We’re constantly exploring different business models, finding creative ways to market and merchandise our partners’ products and looking for ways we can add value to the business beyond being a distribution partner.  We invest in education with our partners, regularly hosting tourism summits, speaking at workshops and universities and attending travel exhibitions in Africa – including Indaba where we have exhibited for the last eight years.  Representatives of our Expedia team also sit on the boards of TBCSA, ATA (African Travel Association) and Fedhasa.  We have built partnerships and friendships that will last a life time.  We are certainly part of the tourism family.

The question should not be why do Expedia or OTAs exhibit at Indaba? The question should be: How can we all work together at Indaba to grow tourism for the good of Africa?  How do we continue to challenge the status quo to ensure our industry remains competitive?  How do we deliver value to the end users of tourism – the consumer and the owner? How do we support more businesses so they have the opportunity to create and develop partnerships and friendships along the way, the same way we have in the past 14 years?

Mr. Reinhart Mecklenburg, when you are next in South Africa, meeting with the companies you represent, I would like to take the opportunity to invite you for lunch. We have lots to talk about and I hope that I will be able to partner with you and get you excited about OTAs.