About I Love Cape Town Tours and Travel

May I introduce myself as Selwyn Davidowitz. I am not a believer in big, artistic, bandwidth grabbing web pages. I believe in the KISS principle which represents the formula "keep it straight and simple" and not "keep it simple stupid" as I was once told. J For this reason that I have kept this webpage down to absolute essentials . After you have made initial contact with me, extra information regarding accommodation, car hire and what to do in the Western Cape, will be done in a more personalized way using email.

1. Top class, FREE personal advice on your travel plans when you intend visiting the Western Cape.

2. Discounted rates for most of the places to stay, car hire as well as experiences such as The Blue Train, Treetop Canopy Tour in Tsitsikamma, safari game drives etc.

3. The knowledge that you are NOT being ripped off when travelling overseas.

4. The facility of knowing that you have a sincere, knowledgeable friend at hand at all times while you are in SA as my cell and telephone numbers will be given to you to use at all times while travelling through our great country.

Over the past years I have witnessed the South African Rand becoming a much stronger currency relative to other world currencies. This has meant that life has become much more expensive for visitors to South Africa today relative to the 2000 - 2003 period. There is no question in my mind that this has reduced the number of tourists to South Africa even though the SA tourism authorities put a different spin on this information. However I do believe that as an emerging world country, we as South Africans need a strong currency and in turn have to contend with this situation if we want to become the world players that I truly believe we will become. Unfortunately many of those involved in tourism in South Africa have still not seen the light in this regard and instead of dropping their rates they have raised their prices on an annual basis. This obviously makes South Africa less attractive to visitors. As a South African who wants to improve the tourism industry these type of actions go totally against my grain and hence the birth of this website.

As a tourguide/operator over the past years I have had much experience in helping potential visitors to South Africa with sincere advice via email, chatrooms, travel forums and requests for advice. By doing this I believe that I have been instrumental in ensuring that these visitors enjoyed there stay in our great country to the full. In this manner I have helped many folk with advice such as what to do and what not to do while travelling in South Africa. My speciality has been homing in on facilities such as

a. Hidden local secrets
b. Itinerary planning
c. Accommodation advice
d. What not to miss while sightseeing
e. Many other important factors that make travelling specifically in the Cape Town and the Garden Route region such a wonderful experience.

I have also noticed that in the past couple of years many websites have sprung up acting as agents for various places to stay, car hire and experiences such as The Blue Train etc. Two questions could be asked about these internet services:

1. Do these website administrators even care about the product they are selling or do they just want to accumulate "numbers" on their webpage?

2. Do these administrators ever keep an eye on the products they promote to ensure that the quality expected by the visitor is adhered to?

Please do not misunderstand me in that I suppose there is a place for these type of websites however, maverick that I am, I have decided to buck the system so as to try and help visitors to SA and this is how I intend operating.

In the past couple of years, as a tourguide/operator, I have obtained commissions on most purchases that my visitors make. I have always passed these commissions on to those who tour with me thus giving my visitors an automatic discount on most that they spend on while they have been touring with me. It is my intention to pass these commissions on to visitors via this webpage in the future. I intend having this facility for ALL and not only those who tour with me. The products I will be suggesting on this webpage will specifically home in on accommodation and experiences like The Blue Train etc at a highly discounted rate. When doing this I will be doing the following:

a. I will ONLY be suggesting venues and events that I have had and are still having good experience with as a tourguide/operator. With that said I will respond to all requests per email no matter what the query. If I am not qualified to answer I will say so and if I have to do research into a product then time permitting I will do so.

b. When suggesting venues and experiences to potential visitors to our part of the world I will not only tell my visitors about the places and experiences that I suggest but I will also ask them to go the original websites of the product themselves. My reason for doing this is so that the visitors can go and see what the real rate is for the product and then via an email to me see exactly what discounted rate I will be able to obtain for them. When going through this procedure I will not be violating any agreements with the owners of the products as I will not be disclosing the discounts they offer. I will deduct a very small admin fee to keep my own personal expenses in running this type of operation down to a minimum. Even when doing this I can virtually assure discounts of 3% - 20%.

My responses to this question would be that I would have:

1. The satisfaction of knowing that visitors to my city and country will be able to do all "the right things" at a price that they cannot obtain anywhere else in that it will always be the lowest rates available.

2. I will only be suggesting one tourguide service on this web page and I suppose that you have guessed that it will be mine. Enough said. J

3. I, as the agent have to pay for all the products that I can have discounted in that the deal is struck between the the agent and the seller and not the buyer and the seller. As I will be paying these bills with my credit card this means that I will obtain airmiles on all sales that I pay. I am an avid traveller so this will be a big gain for me.

ALL IN ALL BY USING THE SERVICES ABOVE YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE AND EVERYTHING TO GAIN

This is a good question which I will answer by saying please go to my photo tour album. Here you will see how, as a tourguide, I take pictures of my visitors as they tour. I place these pictures on the internet daily. This allows my visitors to have their friends and family view current tour photos of those traveling with me. My photo album also acts as my referral page as you will see many comments (with email addresses and contact details) of what those who have travelled with me think of my tours and me personally. Please take a look at how many people have toured with me in the past and when you have done this ask the question again "can we trust him?" Enough said other than please do have fun when you browse the photo album. J

If you want to visit Cape Town or the Garden Route and need me to help you with any of your travel plans please click on the links below that are relevant to you. Once you have done this and have decided on how I can help you I would ask you to please include the following in an email to me:

Once I receive your email I will respond to you per return email within 24 hours and set the ball rolling with everything that you will want to know.

The functions below are some of the many facilities that I can help you with when visiting Cape Town or the Garden Route.

When you visit Cape Town and the Garden Route using the above facility that I offer you will find that your overall expenses drop dramatically at no extra cost to you.

-	-	sd@ILoveCapeTown.com

(	-	+27- 21 439 1778

Mobile	-	+27- 836 043 917

Address	-	4 Ostende, Beach Rd, Sea Point, 8005 South Africa

Please note that by using these numbers they are all at the cost of a local call for the caller in the USA or UK and the calls reach me on my PC in Cape Town using Skype-In technology. If I am not available there are voicemail facilities on line. Rest assured I will respond to all calls. As soon as Skype develop this technology for other countries I will obtain local numbers in these countries as well.