The impact of COVID-19 on the tourism industry has been devastating, forcing many in the sector to revisit their strengths and completely change direction.
This was what led to the creation of a new corporate marketing platform, ExecutiveLounge.Travel. Its aim is to provide a network of diverse luxury brands and connect these with South African CEOs, CFOs and corporate executives looking for bespoke experiences.
The new platform will include personalised landing pages tailored to each corporate executive’s travel needs. From there, business leaders can discover and interact directly with exhibitors (suppliers) on the platform via a sophisticated engagement tool and a matchmaking system that is tailored to their leisure and corporate travel needs.
ExecutiveLounge.Travel was established by industry experts, each with over 20 years of experience in the tourism and travel space. Rudi Wagenaar, Kim Beyers (who both have luxury inbound marketing experience), Jana King (a corporate events and incentives specialist, and Amanda Saddul (a corporate logistics specialist) have joined forces to connect South African executives with the most celebrated inbound marketing experiences.
Wagenaar pointed out that the pandemic, and the subsequent fall-out for the industry, had made it more important than ever to establish “trusted relationships” between top corporate executives and suppliers. “This has now been made possible by ExecutiveLounge.Travel, which provides an engagement platform for highly personalised corporate introductions,” he said.
South African exhibitors (suppliers) are invited to join the membership platform. The new platform and engagement tool would be available after 25 exhibitors had been secured, said Wagenaar.
Exhibitors weigh in
Current exhibitors include founding sponsor, Tswalu Kalahari, destination sponsor Fireblade Aviation, as well as founding suppliers Babylonstoren, Shamwari Game Reserve, Homestead at Oldenburg Vineyards, Singita Lodges South Africa, Morukuru Family, Londolozi, Ellerman House, Mhondoro Safari Lodge & Villa, Madikwe Safari Lodge, Rockfig Safari Lodge, Lush Private Lodge and Serondella Game Lodge.
Marketing Executive for Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the Northern Cape, Russel Binks, said: “Given the current travel landscape, rushing to tick off bucket-list destinations in multiple countries has been replaced with a more immersive, meaningful and sustainable approach to safari travel.
“With this in mind I believe ExecutiveLounge.Travel provides the perfect platform to reach a discerning corporate market committed to experiencing the incredible diversity South Africa has to offer, and thereby contribute to the sustainability of our commitment to preserve the southern Kalahari’s biodiversity for future generations,” said Binks.
Nicolene Enslin, Marketing Manager for Ellerman House in the Western Cape, said the corporate executive market had always been a difficult one to engage with directly, even more so now with remote working being the current trend.
“You need well-established relationships, developed over years, and a unique platform to capture their interest. When Rudi and Jana met with us to present ExecutiveLounge.Travel, the platform fulfilled these two very important elements to introduce our luxury brand in this niche market,” she said.
