Werner Beddies has been appointed CEO of Juut, Namibian Tourism Investment Corporation, following his departure as GM of Private Safaris’ Namibian operation.
In his new role, Beddies will also be heading up a new DMC, Safari and African Experience, currently being registered and expected to be fully operational by Friday, October 7. Safari and African Experience will operate in Southern Africa. “The reason being that Namibia is being sold more and more in combination with other Southern African countries,” said Beddies. “With Air Namibia flying to Durban, we will promote Namibia, but also Durban as the beach offering.”
He added that Safari and African Experience would aim to attract the American, UK and Eastern European markets as well as German-speaking European countries. Sales staff have already been appointed in North America and Europe who will also launch a notification to the industry.
Safari and African Experience will market through the traditional travel trade channels. “The South African market has been challenged a lot more by Internet sales, while the set-up in Namibia doesn’t really allow for it at this moment,” said Beddies. He said while direct online sales did exist in Namibia, they were minimal compared with what had been experienced in South Africa. “We will definitely approach our traditional wholesalers in a B2B operation, and once our staff have been trained up in a few years’ time we will consider becoming a B2C operation.” He said in its initial start-up he felt that staff would not be able to carry out all the intense consultation with a client directly.
Beddies said what set Safari and African Experience apart was that it was people-orientated and employees would have immense product knowledge. The DMC will also have its own vocational training programme to train staff as tour consultants over a three-year period.
He said Juut would invest in various directions, one of which would be hospitality and the development of accommodation establishments throughout Namibia. A range of accommodation establishments will be developed, including camping facilities, three-, four- and five-star products. “We want to own as much as possible. We’re not very keen to just enter into management contracts,” said Beddies. “If we cannot get a property in a certain area, we will certainly look at managing it, but preferably we will buy and develop.” The first accommodation establishment is expected to open by the end of March in the Erongo Mountains area.
He said the board of directors had decided to make 25% of the company shares available to employees, registered in an employees’ trust. Both employee representation and management representation are involved in the trust and they decide how the 25% of profits will be used. Beddies mentioned a number of options such as bonuses, training investment, or subsidising medical aids and pension funds.
