Cecilia Roux, travel adviser at Crosspoint Travel, told Travel News about how she has spent lockdown helping to repatriate South Africans with transfers back home.
“A close friend of mine went through a harrowing ordeal, and she was lucky enough to be repatriated quickly. After that, and hearing about the issues these people had with transfers, I started (with the assistance of some hotels) referring the repatriates to a long-time transfer supplier, Kgokare Tours,” she said.
“I sat helplessly watching international and domestic close, and my annual conferences inevitably cancel, one after the after. Then came the changes to bookings already made, and the pressure from clients, who luckily understood that I cannot give them a date when they can travel again. It kept me sane – knowing that maybe somehow, somewhere, I can offer a tiny bit of assistance and ray of hope to someone in need.”
The first supplier she used was Kgokare Tours. “I’ve been dealing with Philemon from Kgokare Tours for about 14 years now, and he was the first person I thought of.” Thereafter, International Transfers, Thelias Transfer and Tours, and the BBM Group joined as they offered other routes – Port Elizabeth, East London and Limpopo. “These companies’ margins were very small, so I did not pursue any commission. Besides, I made a lot of friends and new contacts. The repatriates already had to pay so much for their tickets and baggage, we did not want to add too much on to that in order to get them to their respective provinces,” she said.
A friend of Cecilia’s, who was repatriated from Finland, offered Cecilia’s contact details to the Birchwood Hotel in Gauteng. Most of the 102 passengers she assisted came from there, and there were some from the Esselen Park School of Rail campus facility.
“The travellers in need whom you help, will come back to you eventually,” she said.
