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Editor's Notes

1. Regulations are very loosely applied in developing countries – even if they exist you would be hard pressed to find someone to enforce them Very unlikely to find a register of the operators in a country and even more unlikely to have a safety audit. Most operators ‘educate’ themselves by attending travel conferences and meeting others – or exporting the European regulations and applying the standards themselves to their operations and training of their people eg. Warrant of road-worthy- fitness for road vehicles used – not applied as stringently in developing countries but operators apply European rules to their own vehicles – and to the local operators they use
2. Medical emergencies are a real issue – very unlikely to have any assistance so therefore the crew have to be adept in finding assistance where they can. In remote places the local villages are the best assistance – nuns and Christian out posts. But other issues of passenger safety – like going out to night spots, risks of robberies in the camps, risk of animals being in places where they oughtn’t be –you have to manage for all these instances
3. The very nature of the some countries are a risk in itself – things that we take for granted are not the norm in developing countries – sometimes the road crews are forced to be in places that are not ideal – it’s being able to make risk assessments that makes the crews in developed countries unique. What you can’t see – often it makes for the best trips – and very rarely has it gone wrong – but as a manager you don’t want to know if you have to!
4. Training of the crew is the most important aspect (apart from the equipment provided to the crew) They have to deal with all types of people (which is the regular) however when a person is out in a place that they are not comfortable in – like Black africa – it can be a management problem. Dealing with multiple currencies determines that they must have good math skills and they must have knowledge of where they are going and what they are doing – with confidence. People will follow them --- anywhere You have to constantly provide the crew with opportunities to train and re-train – so that they stay engaged and happy with their jobs
5. The office staff have to be equally as resourceful – in some instances their job can be supported much easier than the crew on the road. But you have to be at the end of a phone 24/7 – timing is important, good guidance if things go wrong and providing opportunities for constant training
6. You have to make a profit – but there are lots of ethical issues of working in developing countries – you can change the economy of a village by taking a group of tourists there once a week or a month – you can also devastate the same village if you change the tour route. You need to give the locals the opportunity to participate – give them a chance to gain from your business – so that you build a sustain relationship with the locals – they support you and make your trips interesting and you support their economy. When things go bad – they are gold at providing assistance The costs of working in developing countries can also be a problem – there is no commerce commission to determine if there is price fixing in the market – whether the local operators are colluding eg. The cost of Zanzibar ferry
7. Budgeting is paramount and there is usually a long lead in – about 12 months in advance and then updates constantly going on. Using the Boston consultants model of identifying dogs from cash cows and being able to decide what to keep and what to drop Being careful of not being stuck in a time warp eg. The length of the trips – nearly all under 21 days now – whereas years ago trips could be 3-6 months long Tour operators are also introducing sustainability moments – tourists get to work in the local schools, local hospitals and such like – make sure that they only leave their footprints and leave a positive impression with the locals
8. Once you get adventure tourism – some of the road crews have gone onto be the best in the business – they run all manner of companies – most of them global with major economic impact if they go broke eg. Kumuka Expeditions