Holiday Tours is a familiar name in the South African travel industry.
It has deep history, with its origins in the Holiday Holdings stable back in the 70s. In 2011 Holiday Tours and Holiday Travel were sold to Comair to expand the airline’s ancillary tour product. In 2021, as the industry faced a pandemic that had already brought the industry to its knees, Holiday Travel was sold out of Comair before the bankruptcy and liquidation of the airline.
“We fought our way through it all and we are so much stronger than before. We are independently owned with supportive investors,” Deolinda da Silva, GM of the Holiday Travel Group told Travel News. Da Silva herself has a long history with Holiday Tours and Holiday Travel, having started at Holiday Travel in 1989.
Grit and determination
She believes the operator’s strength lies in the team. “Our key staff members did not change after the transition and all the core management team within Holiday Tours has remained the same, showing true grit and determination. We are still a trusted brand with unrivalled years of experience. We believe in providing solid technology as well as personalised service to our customers.”
Holiday Tours recently moved back to Holiday House on Braam Fischer Drive in Randburg as an independently run, Proudly South African business doing what the staff are all passionate about… making holiday dreams a reality.
After a soft relaunch last year, Holiday Tours is in the process of expanding its product base. While it currently sells domestic travel plus Mauritius, Thailand, Maldives and Victoria Falls, Deolinda says the intention is to add much more into an ever-growing portfolio, expanding it monthly.
Ethics, integrity, and loyalty are some of the key values in the way Holiday Tours does business. Da Silva reiterated that good governance was a huge part of how the business was run.
“We’re open and ready for business, we pay travel agents commission and we value enduring industry partnerships.”
Da Silva says Holiday Tours has a great online quoting system on which agents can generate quotes and forward under white label to their client. “Of course, agents are also welcome to call our call centre (see details on Travelinfo), and we will help them telephonically.”
Holiday Tours’ executive team has 101 years of experience between its members. Da Silva has been in the industry for 34 years. Wendy Goutier, Holiday Tours’ Product and Contracting Manager also has 34 years’ experience. Bev Westman, Reservations Manager, has been in travel for 33 years.
Da Silva sees the need to build skills for the industry and to create employment opportunities in South Africa.
“We believe in building the industry back by sharing solid skills to build a good strong team. We will be investing in internships.”
Find Holiday Tours on Travelinfo to see product updates and special deals.
Holiday Tours is part of the Holiday Travel Group, along with MTBeds, Holiday Travel and its Loyalty & Rewards brands.
