Chance for travel agents: Make your product available to 300 000 travel seekers through www.southafrica.net
“Southafrica.net and call centre to serve as link between available accommodation establishments and travelers seeking last minute accommodation”
Johannesburg - South African Tourism is initiating a project to pass available accommodation information on to 2010 FIFA World Cup™ visitors and beyond. The service will allow travellers to get available accommodation information quickly and easily, direct from the South African Tourism call centre or website through the planned integration with Online Booking Platforms.
“We expect that up until the final day of the tournament, there will be people looking for a place to stay. We thus implore all owners of graded establishments – be they B&B’s, hotels or self catering lodges, to load their profile on our website in order to be considered by visitors,” says Roshene Singh, Chief Marketing Officer at South African Tourism.
However, in order to make use of this available accommodation service, online booking platforms need to meet certain criteria:
- Booking Platforms\' Establishments must be registered and verified on the National Tourism Database (NTDB)
- A complete online profile needs to be available for each establishment on www.southafrica.net as part of the NTDB
- A unique Booking Platform Identifier needs to link the establishment to reference the booking platform on the NTDB
- The booking platform needs to be able to offer a live or real time availability search via a standard web browser or API
- The booking platform provider should be able to handle incoming calls through a call centre to make the bookings, or should be able to route directly to the establishment
- Multi-language support would be ideal
- A case management system is required to pass the referrals on to and escalate any issues if needed
- A membership to one or more of the recognised travel and tourism associations is essential
- A secure payment or transaction capability is needed
- The ability to manage the TOMSA levy collection as part of the transaction is required
“We have had to apply stringent requirement criteria in order to protect the consumer and trade who will ultimately be utilising this service. We hope this will not deter the users but rather, make them see that we have their best interests at heart,” says Singh.
This isn’t the only way that your establishment can benefit, even if you don’t belong to a booking platform. Registering for free on the NTDB offers you the global exposure through Southafrica.net to more than 300,000 unique visitors a month, who are all looking for information online to plan their leisure and business travel.
Being part of the NTDB means that your establishment will be able to expose your facilities, rates and contact information.
Visit www.southafrica.net/nationaltourismdatabase/ to register now.
To register your establishment or get information on what is available, visit: www.southfarica.net or call 087 803 4636.
Kontakt:
Sandisiwe Gugushe
Tel: +27 11 895 3043
E-mail: sandisiwe@southafrica.net
Website www.southafrica.net
