South African Airways Renews Contract for Vacation Packaging
by David Cogswell /South African Airways, the national carrier of South Africa, renewed its contract with DSA Vacations to operate its vacation package brand South African Airways Vacations (SAA Vacations) for three more years, beginning Jan. 1, 2019 and extending through Dec. 31, 2021.
It is the third contract for the partnership, which started in 2010.
Established in 2006, SAA Vacations provides air-inclusive packages for the destinations the airline services throughout Southern Africa. Connecting from the airline’s international hub in Johannesburg, South Africa, DSA Vacations as ground operator provides more than 80 packages for destinations in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Senegal and Africa’s Indian Ocean Islands.
DSA Vacations was founded in 2001 as Destination Southern Africa by Terry von Guilleaume, a native South African who had moved to the U.S. in 1997 and married an American. Von Guilleaume’s mother was also an American. The company is headquartered in Tucson, Ariz.
After its founding, Destination Southern Africa rose quickly to the top of its field. The company became the largest selling of the three tour operators authorized by FIFA to sell packages for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in the American market, bringing the operator to the attention of SAA, which signed the company to operate its airline brand in late 2010.
