INDUSTRY FOCUS: TOURISM

one point, we had more than 100 different tour options that we operated, with 800 departures per year.”

This flexibility alongside a careful focus on competitive pricing ensures strong new and repeat business. Rutherford describes relationships with clients as ‘powerful’, and he remains confident that the majority will return or recommend.

“Around 25-30% of our business is repeat – a huge amount of people come back to us and that is great. I have people who have completed

10 trips with us. I have people who have toured with us, gone away, and come back with their children.

“We have age on our side. In the past I would have laughed at a comment like that, but we now have 25 years behind us. We are recognised and our ratings are amongst the highest around.

“We have never become corporate. The way we interact with clients is the same as it has been for years – it’s intimate. Our staff come to work in shorts and flip flops – that is great and clients appreciate it.”

BOOMING MARKET?

The expectation from industry bodies, including South African Tourism, is that the sector will thrive in coming years, even against the backdrop of weak economic performance and withering infrastructural conditions locally. In the three months from end of December 22 to March 23, in the Western Cape alone, 167,000 jobs were created and filled as tourists came back to Cape Town and the winelands for the summer weather and affordability. As this rebound continues, quality service provision will be essential to attract travellers.

“Some companies out there are running 20-year-old vehicles. We run it on the basis of cost – as soon as it goes wrong, we get rid and get a new one, and that makes the client experience better,” says Rutherford, highlighting dependability and consistency around quality standards. “Our breakdown average is one per 120,000km. A breakdown for us is if you turn the key and the vehicle doesn’t go – the customer cannot be made to wait. We monitor it religiously and as soon as info@hausgarnison.com there are signs, the vehicle must go.

“It’s not the time for major risk,” he adds. “We have noticed that there are changes in the market and we are repositioning to be able to handle that. We are getting more group enquiries because there are less players in the market able to satisfy that demand.”

In 2022, tourist arrivals in SA were 153% higher than 2021. Domestic tourism registered a 100% uptick in the first six months of 2022, but thousands of businesses closed doors. For Nomad and other survivors, the ongoing rebuild will require care and responsibility.

“I now have people going to overseas markets to drive new business – you cannot cut marketing in a sales industry. Often, we are the only ones at these shows, and that is great. We are back in the black and the team is very ambitious,” details Rutherford.

“I will never become a mainstream bus operator. We are trying to get people into unusual, remote places to experience Africa but to do that you have to know what you’re talking about. I have a dream team and it has been built over a long time.”

Nomad’s dream team brings journeys to life. Not just Table Mountain or Kruger Park or Victoria Falls. Booking with Nomad gets you everything in between and presents a chance to do what others simply do not. This part of the world has something for everyone, and this is a business that knows how to show it off.

“Reputation, pricing, availability, and options is what separates us,” Rutherford concludes.