Bill Harrop’s Original Balloon Safaris (BHOBS) has started a new chapter following the passing of its iconic founders, Bill and Mary Harrop, in 2021.
Tourism Update sat down with Chief Pilot Tracy Robb, CEO and Accountable Manager Dale de Klerk, and Marketing Manager Jacquie Pastor to find out what has been happening and what the future holds for the longest established tour operator in South Africa.
Robb had been working for Bill and Mary on and off over a 40-year period, so she knew the family and the business very well. De Klerk had nothing to do with ballooning until the pandemic, but knew Robb very well. Both have been involved in aviation all their lives.
The decision to take over the company by Robb and De Klerk was largely based on the fact that its closure would have been a massive loss for ballooning in South Africa and worldwide, said De Klerk.
The Harrops’ two children, Sarah and Sam, had moved to Australia and were not interested in taking over the company, as they had already settled into their lives Down Under.
“We made them [the children] an offer to take over the business, to get it back up and running again. That’s how it all restarted for Bill Harrop’s,” said De Klerk.
The trio said it was crucial for them to not only uphold the legacy of the company but to also improve on it. “Robb and De Klerk have come in with the experience and are trying to continue the legacy of Bill Harrop’s by operating the company with the same level of standards and expectations,” said Pastor.
“Harrop’s built a legacy and it is a household name. Everybody in the travel trade knows Bill Harrop. Now we are building on that legacy to try and make it even better,” De Klerk continued.
“Harrop became the first licensed hot-air balloon charter operator when he received the required balloon Air Operator Certificate (AOC) licence. He was the father of commercial hot-air ballooning,” said Robb.
She added that it had already seen the fruits of their labours. “We had the ultimate compliment last weekend when a tour operator who brings guest regularly said that its absolutely amazing how we have taken Bill Harrop’s to another level.”
Challenges
De Klerk told Tourism Update: “Our biggest challenge was to let everybody know that the company is still running, because unfortunately the word went out when Bill passed away that everything had come to a standstill. We had to do an extensive amount of marketing to let everyone know that the company is still alive.”
Robb believes that it has a great team to tackle all its challenges head-on. “It is about customer satisfaction, service to the customer, attention to detail and safe flying. We have a team of five pilots who are some of the most experienced in the world. All the pilots have well over 2 000 hours of flying experience, as well as a wealth of local and international experience which they can share with passengers.”
Future plans, new pilot training facility
The pandemic had caused a decrease of international visitors to Bill Harrop’s, but had led to an increase in domestic tourists.
“Our marketing team has built up demand. We are currently sitting at 65-70% local travellers and 30-35% international travellers. Our goal now is to keep our local business, but grow back our foreign tourists to where it was before COVID,” said De Klerk.
Talking of the future, De Klerk revealed that the company was looking to add more hot-air balloons and possibly overnight facilities for customers who come from afar. It has also started a licensed and registered Hot Air Balloon Pilot Training School.
“Due to the demand, we need new pilots and we started a balloon pilot training facility. Our very first pilot trainee, Michael Majadibodu, graduated from the training facility recently and is officially a fully qualified hot air balloon pilot,” said De Klerk.
Majadibodu grew up and worked for the Harrops since he was a little kid and has now also joined the marketing team.
