FlySafair’s Travel Booster helps four local tourism businesses take off

FlySafair has announced Travel Bug Tours & Safaris, Art Aid Africa, Legacy Collection and World Trackers as the winners of its inaugural Travel Booster competition.

Building on the success of its Business Booster campaign, the initiative is designed to support the growth of small and medium-sized tourism businesses.

Each winner receives a package valued at over R350,000 from FlySafair, including:

In addition, the winners receive car hire coupons from First Car Rental and tailored business solutions from Vodacom SA.

“What stands out about these four businesses is how personal they are,” says Kirby Gordon, chief marketing officer at FlySafair.

“They take visitors into artists’ studios, onto tracking trails, through Durban’s food and street culture and into the story of Cape Town’s Robben Island.”

Gordon adds that for small businesses, a flight can open doors to new connections and opportunities for growth.

“Our hope is that these four meet new customers and partners, and that more South Africans discover what they offer,” he says.

“When businesses like these grow, so do their teams, their communities and the places they call home.”

World Trackers is built on a partnership of three decades between Alex van den Heever and Renias Mhlongo (pictured above).

Combining Mhlongo’s traditional tracking skills with Van den Heever’s guiding and wilderness experience, the pair offer something far beyond a traditional safari: the chance to understand the African bush through the eyes of experienced trackers.

Both are also involved in the Tracker Academy, which develops skilled trackers from disadvantaged rural communities and helps preserve traditional tracking knowledge.

The flights will allow Van den Heever and Mhlongo to travel across South Africa to meet potential clients, build relationships and expand their network.

“Winning this competition is an incredible opportunity for World Trackers to share our passion for Africa, wildlife and the ancient art of tracking with a wider audience,” they say.

Travel Bug Tours & Safaris started as a small Durban tour business with a belief that tourism should do more than move people between attractions.

Today the destination management company works with local guides, artists and food businesses to show visitors the people and stories behind a place, from Big Five safaris and Drakensberg journeys to a new Durban street-art experience with local artist Kev7.

From Big Five safaris to Durban street art, Travel Bug Tours & Safaris offers a range of immersive opportunities to explore KwaZulu-Natal. (FlySafair) As it grows from a KwaZulu-Natal-focused operator into a broader destination management company, Travel Bug plans to use the flights to meet travel trade partners and clients in Johannesburg and Cape Town, attend industry events and develop new itineraries.

“As we grow, we want that growth to create opportunities for the guides, artists, small businesses and communities that form part of the experiences we offer,” says founder Dominic Naidoo.

For 25 years, Art Aid Africa has connected indigenous knowledge and traditional skills with contemporary art, design, industry and new markets.

Art Aid Africa co-founders Jan Bhuda and John Anthony. (FlySafair) Today, it brings this experience into immersive tourism, taking visitors beyond the usual tourist trail and into the creative pulse of South Africa from cutting-edge contemporary art and street culture to independent studios, emerging designers and rural communities where heritage meets innovation.

The flights will help the Art Aid Africa team build partnerships with travel industry innovators, open up new markets and bring more visitors into direct contact with the people shaping South Africa’s contemporary cultural landscape.

“Winning the FlySafair Travel Booster competition gives us wings to take our ideas further,” says John Anthony, Art Aid Africa’s co-founder and creative strategist.

Cape Town-based Legacy Collection turns original Robben Island prison fencing into handcrafted jewellery, art and statement pieces, each telling a story of human rights, justice and South Africa’s journey to democracy.

Legacy Collection CEO and founding artist Charmaine Taylor-Claasen. (FlySafair) Founding artist and CEO Charmaine Taylor-Claasen says she will use the FlySafair flights to meet jewellery retailers, art galleries, interior designers and property developers across the country, train retail staff to share the story behind each piece, and grow Atlas + Taylor, a bespoke travel business offering private Robben Island storytelling tours.

“Winning the FlySafair Travel Booster is the opportunity Legacy Collection has been waiting for to take our business to the next level,” says Taylor-Claasen.

“It gives me the freedom to travel across South Africa, meet retailers and build partnerships that will help grow our national footprint.”