The Company is well established at a South African and Southern African level. We frequently do work for national tourism bodies and local authorities. We have also undertaken project work for donor agencies and commercial operators.

The Business Tourism Company applies imaginative thinking to develop and implement creative, results driven strategies. We know how to build a tourism product brand. From maximising  human capital competencies and developing niche markets’, to increasing leads, we are an experienced team of professionals with a strong track record in practical strategic tourism planning and the expertise to position a destination to increase its share of the travel industry market.

Our core focus is on Marketing, Management, Development and Training of tourism destinations and products. As a results oriented organisation, we have an entrepreneurial spirit and the courage to do things differently.

The Team

Rick Taylor
Rick’s background is rooted in marketing and advertising. He was MD of two ad agencies during his last 10 years in the industry.

His involvement in tourism began in 1994 with the purchase of the Hout Bay Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa.

From 1998 Rick was a pioneer in the greater Cape Town tourism industry where, as CEO of Cape Metropolitan Tourism he introduced numerous innovative marketing concepts such as Cape Town’s ‘Secret Season', BestCities.net, Beautiful Bays and Great Wine Capitals of the World.

Rick set up South Africa’s first stand alone Convention Bureau, marketing greater Cape Town as an international meetings destination and positioning the region firmly on the global meetings and incentives map. Through his leadership, Cape Town rose from 51 to 30 on the ICCA list of top international conference and incentive cities in 2000. Furthermore, the Cape Town Convention Bureau won over 80% of all conference bids.

In 2004 Rick was appointed to South African Tourism to set up a National Convention Bureau on their behalf.

Rick is a popular speaker at international conferences and has sat on a number of National and International Boards in the business tourism arena for example:

            • Past Chairman: South African Meetings Industry Federation
            • Director: DMAI (formerly IACVB - USA)
            • Chairman: South African Federation of Convention Cities
            • Board Member: Tourism Business Council of South Africa

He now runs The Business Tourism Company, an international African based strategic planning and facilitation tourism consultancy focused on the marketing, management, development and training of tourism destinations and products with a particular focus on the business tourism sector.

Colette Taylor
Colette spent twenty years in the advertising industry in Johannesburg with the last 8 years as MD of an independent Media Planning and Buying Agency, billing in excess of   R 100 million.

In 1994 Colette joined her husband Rick in the purchase of the Hout Bay Hotel in Cape Town. During this time she served as Chair of NAWBO – National Womens’ Business Organisation, Cape Town.

 An approach by international buyers and the subsequent sale of the hotel resulted in a change of career into the financial services sector in 1997. Colette spent time in an international broker network company, Finanzplan, as Head of Marketing, after which she joined Trinity Holdings, an asset management company in Cape Town, as COO.

Colette and Rick moved to Johannesburg in 2005. She was appointed as global administrator of the share option scheme of a Toronto based mining company, SXR Uranium One, with interests in Canada, the USA, Australia, Kazakhstan and South Africa.

Having provided part-time support to the company over a number of years, Colette joined The Business Tourism Company full time in 2007.

Jacqui Reynolds and Amanda Margison
On Show Solutions (www.onshowsolutions.co.za) is a dynamic strategic exhibition and events consultancy, specialising in local and international travel trade platforms. Industry experts, Amanda Margison and Jacqui Reynolds, combined their passions to form this unique business unit in early 2007.

Drawing on over 20 years of global experience, On Show Solutions designs exclusive and customised approaches for exhibition participation, co-ordination and logistics support. Using extensive relationships with preferred suppliers and contractors, On Show Solutions offers a vast range of services with an unrivalled excellence.

Amanda and Jacqui’s operational experience managing the South Africa pavilions for the past four years on various international travel trade shows gives them a distinct advantage in understanding how to maximise exhibition participation.

‘Business Tourism On Show’ is a joint venture initiative by The Business Tourism Company and On Show Solutions.

‘Perception ….. Insight ….. Energy’