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African tourism portal puts travellers in touch with the best of Southern Africa
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Added: 01/20/2004
Type: Summary
Viewed: 1085 time(s)
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African tourism portal puts travellers in touch with the best of Southern Africa
The Southern African Tourist and Leisure Electronic Pages (SATLEP) was launched recently to address the needs of local and international travellers looking for authoritative, area-specific information on Southern Africa as a holiday destination. Operating as an Internet portal, SATLEP offers a wealth of data that covers a broad spectrum of tourist interests as well as acting as a tool for local tourism-related businesses to get their products and services online for the world to see.
Says Bernard Brown, founder and CEO of SATLEP, “There is a dearth of information on the tourism possibilities in this region. Of the few Web sites that claim to offer this service, none seem to be able to provide the detail needed to draw tourists into Southern Africa. SATLEP’s intention is to change this by presenting an immersive experience to the user, with a wealth of data on just about every holiday opportunity imaginable, complemented by a range of free and low-cost value-added services.”
“For the tourist looking for services and points of interest on Southern Africa, The SATLEP Website features a comprehensive Tourist Guide which allows the user to search through a range of categories from accommodation, entertainment, restaurants and car hire to National Parks, shopping venues, tourist services and cultural activities. The Country Guide offers general and tourist information for countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe and includes a number of links to areas of particular interest. For example, by clicking on South Africa, the user is presented with extensive information on the country as well as links to cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town and points of interest such as the Cradle of Humankind. These links provide in-depth data on those specific areas. The City/Town Guide takes the user on a virtual tour of the region’s cities and towns, providing them with a range of valuable launching areas for their holidays. This is all complemented by full-colour regional maps and pictures to give the user a feel for what they will find in Southern Africa”.
“The portal caters to tourists looking to create their own tailor-made vacation, business persons and the unseasoned traveller looking for package tours. For the latter, we have established a partnership with Maritime Travel which enables us to advertise exclusive package specials to visitors who register, for free, with The SATLEP Vacation Club.”
“While SATLEP seeks to draw tourists to the area, at the same time we are acting as a marketing tool for local tourism-related SME businesses. We offer free listings for these companies as well as a comprehensive Web site design and hosting service, and Internet connectivity. If a company wants a Web presence we will provide a free professional design service, charging only a nominal hosting fee.”
“In addition to the vast store of information available, we also offer a range of free added value services such as Web-based e-mail, classified ads, electronic greeting cards, dynamic weather content, video news, a direct feed to international and sports news and, in partnership with Vstore, online shopping. A highlight of the portal is the live, high-speed Webcams which present a new image every 5 seconds or so. This is commonly referred to as streaming video.”
Adds Brown, “Our plan is to create a number of regionally focused, international portals which present a common look and feel. At present, Southern Africa is live but we are building new portals for Europe, North and South America, Asia and more. Ultimately, SATLEP will comprise a series of inter-linked, regionally focused portals covering the entire globe. At the same time we are attracting a large number of people from areas as far afield as the USA, UK and even the Virgin Islands to act as freelance editors who will contribute editorial on the tourism opportunities of their own countries, including the cities and towns where they live.”
The SATLEP Website address is http://www.satlep.com
Contact:
Bernard Brown
SATLEP
(+2711) 708 0170
bernard@satlep.co.za
Issued by:
Brian Masters
A-Plus Communications
(+2711) 789 9795
brian@a-plus.co.za
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