Safari-planner.com

 

 

 

Safari-planner.com is founded by Patrick Faase, it is an affiliate website which is selling trips from tour operators to customers. The customer can compare different safari trips to Africa, from different tour operators, but also local African tour operators and this makes the website very special.

 

Patrick Faase said: “Why should the customer buy a product from an African company (local  company) with a bad website? So how can ICT & Tourism help least developed countries reduce economic leakage?” So he had the idea to start a good website, where the Dutch customer can find the local tour operators in Africa. The website is promoting safaris of local African companies by creating credibility on the Dutch consumer market. Based on nocure no pay principle.

 

The first few years went very well, but there were also risks. Patrick went with his product to the “ Vakantiebeurs”  in Utrecht in 2009. This was a lot of work and costs a lot of money and time.  Only the stand was almost too beautiful, Patrick mentioned: “people walked by and thought they couldn’t afford it, you have to know your market and product”. So when you are doing a marketing action you have to keep in mind: how much is the profit, how much time does it takes, how much customers will I get from this, etcetera. I think this is a good lesson, because when you start up a product you cannot do the biggest marketing actions. Patrick said: “To sell (promote) you need to understand the product, understand your market, and convince your client”. You have to know what the customer wants (customer expectations), this is one of the most important things when you want to shell.

 

For almost 5 years Patrick left safari-planner.com to die slowly, he did more teaching in these years. But, this year (2015) he picked up Safari-planner.com again. He made a new website and lay-out, focused on the Dutch customer. It is a platform for Dutch tour operators to promote themselves but also, a consumer platform to find and compare safaris. But they are not a booking website, you cannot book as a customer on this site. They are only promoting the tour operators and these are paying safari-planner.com. (When a customer comes true safari-planner.com to the tour operators website and is also booking there, for extra information about special products,  links and following buttons).

 

Nowadays, there is a huge competition is the tour operator business and being online is a must. You can make use of : SEO, SEA, SEM and behavior tracking. Moreover, make your website mobile friendly!

 

I think it is good that Patrick Faase started the website safari-planner.com, he helps to bring the local African tour operators in contact with the Dutch customer.