A specialist travel company like Steadfast Africa will match or beat the prices you find, tailor-make your trip to suit your needs, give you free concierge, expert advice before you even ask, tables at fully-booked restaurants, keep you safe and provide access to exclusive places and experiences that you would otherwise miss. Why pay the same commission to an agency like Booking.com and miss out on all the extra services we have to offer?

Like home telephone lines and movie rental stores, travel agents seemed to fade into obsoleteness in the early 2000’s as the internet opened up a world of online travel bookings. But is a comeback on the cards? It seems that the travel agent as we know it has evolved with the times and a new crop of travel experts has emerged…

The Evolution Of The MiddleMan.

The internet changed the face of travel. Where we used to turn to an agency for all our information on flights, accommodation and sightseeing options? The internet started to answer instead. Need a flight? Sites like Travelstart and Skyscanner will do it for you. Accommodation? Booking.com and Airbnb have the solution. What to see and where to eat? Tripadvisor and LonelyPlanet will have the options ranked and reviewed for you. And then of course there is Instagram and Facebook, where inspirational travel is splashed across your screen on a daily basis. We all started to become our own travel agency, mapping our holidays and cutting out the “MiddleMan”.

Despite all this choice and autonomy being right at our fingertips, two factors have surfaced which are drawing the travel agent back into the spotlight: time management and a desire to experience the unknown and the unique. 

The Human Factor.

People are busy and despite the perceived bonus of endless options being available to us online, many quite simply do not have the time to trawl through sites and take a guess when it comes to a holiday we have saved up for and looked forward to. Travel agents provide the security that we need when investing hard-earned money into an experience.

Travel agents are essentially another research tool. Like Google, only human and a lot more focused on our needs. The perception is that travel agents sell travel, when in fact a great travel agent doesn’t sell anything- they help us choose and buy wisely. A great travel agent will research with you, find better deals and upgrades, will steer you away from obstacles and help ensure the quality of your holiday. This insight and assurance is worth a fee, especially if you value your time and your travel time. A travel agent will help your trip be as logistically smooth as possible whilst still allowing for the spontaneous and the unexpected.

“With highly specialized experience in the personal travel sector, Steadfast innately understands the needs and wants of the luxury traveler. Curating bespoke travel that ensures memorable moments and surprising experiences that will stay with travelers long after the journey’s end.” STEADFAST AFRICA.

A Search For The Unexplored.

It’s not just Generation Z and the Millennials, it seems all generations are opting out of accumulating assets and are looking to accumulate experiences instead. Travel has never been so easy and has never been so popular. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNTWO) there were a record 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals in 2018 and a study by Visa predicts that there will be a 35% increase in international travel over the next decade. With this comes a desire to experience something different to all the rest, to have a holiday that is unique and curated- a deviation from the norm.

Why queue for the Eiffel Tower and eat at a cafe teeming with tourists when you could be sampling red wines in a cellar in Bordeaux?Experience the real Italy with a cooking class in the home of an Italian family, sip locally brewed beer and home-made mie goreng in a home-stay in Bali, have a gin-tasting picnic on Kloof Nek corner in Cape Town.

The travel agent of the 1990’s has evolved into the “travel designer” of the 2020’s. These designers create trips that you cannot just book online, trips for travelers not tourists.

With feet on the ground in local destinations, the travel designer will put together a holiday for you that you could only ever have dreamed of. Hole-in-the wall local spots, the best beaches for the right wind, kid-friendly safaris, safe transport, beautiful accommodation and personalized touches that google just can’t do. Steadfast Africa should be the company you turn to for your curated, bucket-list holiday to South Africa and Africa. Our travel designers will get to know you, be invested in your wants and needs, guide you through any hiccups that come with traveling in third world countries and ensure that your experience is an unforgettable one.

Travel design is about personalization more than anything else – clients want tailored solutions to their individual needs. By forming a relationship with the clients and knowing their preferences allows the designer to deliver the perfect experience for clients.