Want to see the world? A novel lay-by initiative may be the way to go, writes Zisanda Nkonkobe
YOU can lay by for a pair of jeans you desperately want, and you can lay by for that big screen TV you’ve had your eye on for a while.
But what if you could buy your dream holiday on lay-by? With Fomo Travel you can. The company offers a first-of-its -kind service that allows users to choose their dream destinations and pay monthly instalments towards the trip, so that when the time to travel arrives, at least the tour part is paid for. On offer are destinations from across the world.
At the time of writing, packages include a Greek Island-hopping tour at R5 764 a month for four months, which buys a 12-night stay in a twin-share hotel plus all meals; a London to Rome adventure tour (R3 295 a month for five months) which includes a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower; as well as a Victoria Falls and Zimbabwe tour (R2 215 a month for six months) which includes a guided rhino walk and game drive through the Kruger National Park.
To sign up, users create an account on the Fomo Travel website where they fill in their personal details and select a tour package. These tours are offered by a number of different tour companies affliated to Fomo Travel.
After paying an initial deposit, which ranges between 10% and 30% depending on the destination, users then begin a monthly recurring payment method with the money kept in a trust account.
Users are also able to ask their friends or loved ones to either sponsor their trip – where payments are made by a third party on their behalf – or ask people to pay varying amounts into the social saving account to lessen the overall financial burden.
Once the payment plan has been paid in full, the holiday is then confirmed.
Explaining how the process works, founder and chief executive officer Andrew Katzwinkel said the exchange rate did not affect prices at all as all packages were sold on a fixed price.
Speaking recently to the Daily Dispatch, Katzwinkel said Fomo Travel had sold 50 travel packages to various destinations around the world for holidays, birthday trips and honeymoons since launching in November.
He said the inspiration to start Fomo Travel came to him few a years ago after he completed a marketing and advertising degree and was itching to travel the world.
“After graduating, I decided to travel abroad and to experience life overseas.
“This is where my travel bug set in,” Katzwinkel said.
“I worked on a yacht in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean for three years and this really opened my eyes to this large, beautiful world where there’s so much to offer. We travelled to a lot of different places across the globe. All of this, coupled with the experiences that I had, led me to land in the travel business so I could share the major benefits of what travel has to offer with others.
“I saw how many South Africans were prohibited from seeing the world due to the current payment methods on offer and, as I was getting older, I realised that so many individuals were missing out on a vital part of their young lives because as soon as you start getting older, you’ve got so many other responsibilities to worry about and things that hold you back.
“I focused on that problem. I thought about what it was that was stopping people from seeing the world and, through research, it came down specifically to price. I realised that money was the major reason people were missing out on these experiences.”
To gain some business experience Katzwinkel looked for work in the marketing and advertising industry, landing up as an account executive with the Cardozo Group.
After three and half years there, Katzwinkel decided to resign and to pursue a career within the travel industry. It was while he was in the initial stages of setting up the company that he thought about the lay-by feature.
“After completing the research I sat down and thought to myself: Imagine you could book a holiday today with the price it is today with the availability that is there when you’re going in three or six or nine month’s time, and each month save towards that future travel experience.
“To be facilitated through that process, to be helped and guided along the way so that it’s stress and hassle-free.
“The issue with putting money away in a savings account is that you can always withdraw it and spend it on something else because it’s not locked in. Or, if that money stays in the account and it gets to the day that you want to book it then there’s no availability or the prices have gone through the roof. That is the reason I created Fomo. Individuals who don’t want to travel by credit or immediate payment have this new alternative.
“And the best part is that they don’t come home to a mountain of debt after their holiday.”
Katzwinkel said Fomo Travel had 10 travel agencies on its books.
Having just joined with the Singer Group, which has been in the travel industry for more than 50 years, Katzwinkel plans to further serve his customers by one day adding flights to all the travel packages he offers, a conversation he’s already having with travel agencies.
“My future plans include going global. I believe that this is not only a South African problem but a global one. In five years time I would like to be servicing Africa and the world,” he said, stressing the need for people of all ages to travel.—