In Namibia, we find only very few ‘tourism industry standards’. For this reason, everything works differently, even internet shopping!
This is to your advantage: Contrary to usual internet business, we will not demand full payment with booking!
Upon hitting the ‘check out’ key of the shopping cart, you will receive an acknowledgement from us that you have booked and we will specify an initial down payment – which must then be transferred into the VA bank account without delay.
This down payment will be about 15%* of your total booking.
While we wait for the emailed payment advice of this first payment, we will check your booking for any omissions / double bookings and clarify with you.
As soon as the amount is received, we will go ahead to book your trip with each individual supplier. Non-payment of the down payment will result in us not going ahead with your bookings.
Usually, VA Tourism confirms your booking within 12 – 24 hours.
Experience shows however that many itineraries have at least one ‘bottle neck’ where the desired property is fully booked or remains unconfirmed for other reasons. Those items will be substituted by VA with similar suppliers of a similar price structure – at the discretion of VA Tourism. Alerts to this respect will be sent to you for your information.
In this case, it will take VA Tourism 24 – 48 hours to confirm the last bookings of your trip.
As soon as the entire itinerary is confirmed, you will receive the invoice.
The invoice will take into account the down payment which you have settled already.
The invoice will further indicate the exchange rate and the final payment, and stipulate the respective due date.
Exchange rate fluctuations of up to 5% will be absorbed by VA. Larger fluctuations will be reflected at the due date of the final payment and your invoice will be amended accordingly, up or down! You can however avoid the exchange rate issue altogether if you pay the total amount upon confirmation.
Upon receipt of the final payment all travel vouchers will be shipped. If we send you an electronic .pdf file for each travel voucher, shipment will be within a few hours after receipt of the final payment. If you prefer printed travel vouchers, these will be shipped by registered mail and will take up to 2 weeks to reach the client.
* The amount of the requested deposit will vary according to the suppliers you have chosen for your itinerary. There are suppliers in Namibia who demand full payment upon confirmation, regardless of how long in advance this booking was received.
We do a lot more than only demanding money from you! – Our after-sales-service for instance, includes the negotiations with hotels and car rental companies in case anything goes wrong while you are in Namibia. But not to worry, there are not even 1% of our clients that need our services after they return home.