Into Africa

Geoffrey Kent, founder of Abercrombie & Kent, plans to take more Chinese tourists to Africa. Provided to China Daily

Safari King plans tailored trips to attract rich Chinese tourists

It is normal to expect owners of international companies to be also paragons of fashion, decked as they are in nattily tailored suits and shirts with matching ties and shoes. Geoffrey Kent, the founder and chairman of luxury travel provider Abercrombie & Kent (A&K), however, is exactly the opposite.

Sitting in his spacious office in London's central Piccadilly Circus area, the 70-year-old strikes a different pose in his casual shirt with the first button undone. Despite the informal wear, what his company is now planning to offer in China is indeed something well tailored - luxury African safaris.

"It is 100 percent tailored," Kent says, adding that his target customers are upper-middle class and wealthy Chinese.

Dubbed "Safari King" in Africa, Kent began his lifelong adventurous career in 1962, when he founded A&K. At the age of 16, he started working in Nairobi, Kenya, by driving a Land Rover to guide rich American tourists.

In the same year, he drove his motorcycle from Nairobi to Cape Town in South Africa - the first person ever to do so.

He says he has pioneered several things in the tourism industry, such as organizing expeditions to the Antarctic and Arctic. Kent also says that he was the first person to bring Microsoft chief Bill Gates to Africa.

Now at an age when most of his peers have hung up their boots, Kent is ready to embark on a new adventure.

Kent says that he is not interested in just bringing Chinese tourists to Africa. "We want to offer Chinese tourists experiential travel, an opportunity to experience and see things that are truly extraordinary," he says.

"It will truly be an experience that will change your life. It's not just plain sightseeing, but more about understanding the nature, wildlife, ecology and environment," Kent says.

Though he has more than 50 years of experience in African tourism, Kent feels that the number of Chinese tourists visiting the continent is still relatively small.

But adding that African tourism "could very well be a major attraction market for the Chinese. because there is so much to see and experience", he says.

China's new millionaires are piling into Europe and America, seeking ways to spend their money. In the same way, many of them may soon learn to love and cherish African experiences, he says.

"They love pleasure as much as they love business," he adds, noting that Chinese tourists will be able to do extraordinary things, such as ballooning and learning about animals and wildlife. He also says Kenya is a good destination for shopping, a must-do for Chinese tourists abroad.

Actually Kent had already brought a team of 12 Chinese, including the owner of a well-known company, to Kenya. Though it was only a three-day safari trip, Kent says it was a "fantastic success".

The most impressive moment was when a customer, at the end of the trip, smiled at Kent and said, "This is way better than I thought".

"Tourism is like a good movie, and it spreads through word of mouth. With more people ready to talk about their experiences, we expect to see an increase in numbers," Kent says.

Learning from these trips, Kent also feels that he has a good chance of scoring big in the Chinese high-end tourism market.

A graduate from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in southern England and a former polo-playing chum of the Prince of Wales, Kent saw service in such far-flung countries as Bahrain, Kuwait and Malta.

He first visited China in 1979 and spent 10 days touring Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. He went to China again in 1982 and stayed there for six months to visit "everywhere, including Tibet".

He says he also began to organize trips to China from 1982.

A&K currently employs more than 2,300 people in more than 50 offices around the world, including one in Beijing which offers inbound tourism services for foreigners. The company employs more than 200 people in China, and also owns a luxury tourist boat on the Yangtze River.

Apart from this "Team One", Kent says he would need to build a "Team Two" in Beijing, offering Chinese clients African tours only.

Unlike other tourist companies that normally use local people to guide Chinese tourists, Kent says A&K will offer them Chinese guides in Africa.

"First of all, you need to know what the Chinese want, especially things like a Chinese language guide and special chefs for Chinese food. I never bring foreign people into new markets," he says.

Instead, Kent says his company will recruit Chinese people and get them trained in Africa.

Though that process may take "at least one or two years", Kent says it is important, as he does not want to compromise on the quality of services provided by A&K.

An ideal member of Kent's African team is Eunice Wang, a Chinese who joined his company about 18 months ago.

"She has been there (Africa) for 10 years. That is a crucial point," Kent says.

The meeting came about two years ago when Kent was sitting in his Nairobi office and reading a newspaper report on "one of China's top government officials" visiting Kenya.

The report mentioned that the government had a "top Chinese lady working for them for four to five years, who took all the VIPs around Africa", he recalls.

"So I called her: 'I want to meet you Ms Wang, right now'. She came to my house and was very polite when she said: 'In Kenya, I have read a lot about you. And you are the Safari King'."

Kent says the bonding started over a cup of tea and he realized that Wang was not only smart but also thorough in her knowledge. "She knew all about the animals, all about the tribes, all about the environment and all about the ecology.

"It was then that I realized that this is exactly the kind of person I wanted to employ. I made a job offer and she agreed to join me in Africa."

But one employee is far from enough, and Kent says he is looking to recruit more people like Wang in Africa.