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The guys at Tourvest’s Travelit believe the new app they’ve developed is something unique and ground-breaking in a South African context

Ebrahim Matthews, Managing Director of Diners Club South Africa, chats to Dylan Rogers about expanding their services into Africa.

The second half of 2014 will see the XL Travel Group celebrate 10 years as a consortium, which started with 15 shareholders and is now made up of 150 members. Rod Rutter is the group’s chief operating officer, and he sat down with editor Dylan Rogers over a coffee in Johannesburg, to chart the group’s history, expand on what it has to offer, and touch on some of the travel industry’s most pressing issues.

Along with Marriott and Carlson Rezidor, Hilton are the international group with the most impressive African hotel development pipeline, and the group already operates...

Privately-owned South African airline CemAir has decided to take on established operator SA Express on the Johannesburg-Bloemfontein route. Editor Dylan Rogers took the inaugural flight and later caught up with CEO Miles van der Molen to get more on CemAir’s background and their approach to commercial flight.

Andrew McDonic,Managing Director of American Express Foreign Exchange, chats to BTA editor Dylan Rogers about their GlobalTravel Card and the travel spending trends of the modern age.

Graham Wood, managing director of Southern Sun Hotels talks about how the South African hotel industry has survived the post-2010 World Cup slump and is coming out the other end and more when he joined BTA editor Dylan Rogers for a coffee at the Palazzo Montecasino.

Editor Dylan Rogers chats to the Regional Manager of Southern Africa & Latin America for Air Mauritius, Carla da Silva, about her views on what the industry should be concentrating on, and the role that government plays in the development of the aviation industry.

Cresta Hotels is one of Southern Africa's largest hotel management groups, managing or operating 17 hotels in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia, three of which the group owns. Ten of those properties are in Botswana, but editor Dylan Rogers was drawn more towards what Cresta CEO Glenn Stutchbury had to say on Zimbabwe, where the group has five properties, covering Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is one of the big players on the international hotel scene, with a portfolio of nearly 250 properties, including 37 hotels in 19 African countries. That number is set to grow, as Starwood, like most of its competitors, has plans to further strengthen its presence here. Editor Dylan Rogers sat down at Meetings Africa with Martina Boettcher, the group’s Regional Director of Marketing for Africa & Indian Ocean, to get a clearer idea of what the Starwood approach is.

According to W Hospitality Group’s ‘2014 African Hotel Chain Development Pipeline’, Carlson Rezidor holds the largest hotel pipeline on the continent, with 30 hotels and 6,300 rooms under development. No surprise then that the group’s Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Office Olivier Harnisch was in Johannesburg recently, and made himself available for a coffee with editor Dylan Rogers.

Sun International has gone through a period of introspection, questioning just what exactly it is, besides a South African group of hotel and gaming properties. One of the by-products of this introspection has been the launch of the group’s Sunlux Collection. Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Rob Collins and Group Manager: Marketing Alison McKie joined editor Dylan Rogers for a chat about this product, and the group as a whole.