adminAssembly. The indigenous company, whose profile continues to grow from strength to strength, has been appointed the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority’s official tour company for the general assembly slated for August 24-29.
Within the same week, Lachelle also won an international accolade, The TravelPort, Most Promising Travel Agent of 2012.
Travelport, also known as Galileo, is one of the only two international air travel booking systems, used by airlines the world over and give prestigious awards to travel agents throughout the world.
Travelport is global air traffic distribution system and has its subsidiary in Zimbabwe.
That the accolade comes hardly two weeks after LaChelle made inroads as the only Zimbabwean travel agency to exhibit at the Fitur International Travel and Tourism Expo in Madrid, Spain, tells a story of a company emphatically announcing itself to the world tourism family.
There is no doubt, therefore, that LaChelle’s business footprints are becoming more and more visible as it continues to put Zimbabwe’s tourism attractions -man-made or sired by natural phenomena – on the world map.
Mots importantly, LaChelle’s business acumen should be seen within the context promoting the new national tourism brand “Zimbabwe: A World of Wonders”, that has seen the country try and turn around the economy through tourism.
“We are pleased to advise that LaChelle Travel and Tours will be the official tour company for the UNWTO General Assembly to be held in Victoria Falls from August 24 to 29 2013,’’ wrote ZTA chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke, effectively endorsing LaChelle.
In its citation, Travelport said it had noticed steady growth and stability of the travel agent over the years and that it was amazed by the level of professionalism at LaChelle.
“LaChelle is the travel agent of the future!’’ it said.
As the countdown to the first ever UNWTO General Assembly to be held in Southern Africa in Victoria Falls gathers momentum, all serious tourism and hospitality industry companies should be positioning themselves to effectively tap into this mega event.
Of critical importance is that this the first ever time, the bi-annual UNWTO General Assembly is being held in Southern Africa and the second ever time it is being held on Africa soil, after Senegal hosted it in 2007.
Of greater importance is that this general assembly rotates among the more than 180 member countries on equal basis every two years, mathematically making it impossible for Zimbabwe to host this event again in about 360 years to come.
Is that not a generational legacy?
For LaChelle has since stepped up preparations for the general assembly by opening an office in Victoria Falls and entering into a partnership with Glory Car Hire, to enable it to provide top of the range vehicles for VIP and VVIPs during the general assembly.
Senior travel consultant Itai Chitambo says LaChelle has been positioning itself as a global tourism player and that it will do everything in its power to play its role at the UNWTO General Assembly.
“I am sure you have noticed, together with those who gave us the award and ZTA which gave us the official status at the UNWTO that our market share has been rising steadily, locally an internationally. We started in 2010 but we are moving fast.
“We have opened an office in Victoria Falls. We opened it late last year and we are now putting in place systems to make everything very functional. Failure is not an option.
“We have entered into partnerships and one of the most important ones is that with Glory Car Hire, which has top of the range vehicles that we will use during the UNWTO period.
“With those luxury vehicles we are able to commute delegates to Hwange, Chobe, Victoria Falls National Park, the falls themselves and the surrounding areas.
“They can be chauffeur-driven or they can have self-driven. We will also deal with ticketing and airport transfers as well as provision of tour guides,’’ he says.
LaChelle is also setting its eyes beyond the UNWTO and involving itself in other issues central to the national brand like township tourism, marketing all the tourist attractions in Zimbabwe.
“Township tourism is going to be a big issue in the future of Zimbabwe’s tourism and so will be events like soccer matches.
“We want to be able to take travellers to a Dynamos match at Rufaro Stadium, while they await their other business.
“We want to be able to take them to the Epworth Balancing Rocks, Domboshava, Lion and Cheetah Park, Mana Pools, Snake World and the National Heroes Acre and so forth.
“Our visitors should not spend most of the time in hotels, watching TV because where they come from there are TV sets.
“We want them to watch township dance traditional groups and village dance groups. That is Zimbabwe,’’ says Chitambo.
It seems LaChelle is really coming on board to do serious business in the tourism and hospitality industry. As for its future, only time will tell!
Online Reporter