Help a phone call away

2003-11-24 11:28

Tisha Steyn

Cape Town - A Johannesburg businessman has come up with an idea to make it safer for foreign tourists to travel in South Africa.

Andre Snyman founded Travel Buddy, a non-profit cellphone chaperone service that provides tourists with "a friend in every town and city".

By registering with Travel Buddies for R240, tourists become part of a nationwide "neighbourhood watch network" that offers 24-hour advice and assistance on the tourist's cellphone.

Travel Buddies is staffed by 15 000 volunteers in major towns and cities across the country.

Tourists who get lost, are caught up in road accidents, think they are being followed by hijackers, are the victims of crime, or are just looking for a good place to have dinner, send a message to the Travel Buddies headquarters in Johannesburg, who forward the call to the local network of volunteers where the tourist is travelling at the time.

Snyman said police are enthusiastic about the initiative, albeit not always equally comfortable with the results.

Recently, two young foreigners were forced to either pay a fine of R500 or spend the night in jail after a corrupt policeman harassed them.

After a few phone calls by Travel Buddies, the offending officer was identified and a local tourist authority had organised free car hire and accommodation to compensate the couple for their ordeal.

Snyman said: "When I started Travel Buddies, people thought I was a nutcase. But now we are getting the whole country to look after tourists. We, the ordinary people, have to do something to rebuild South Africa's image abroad."

- News24