Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Our economy is effecting the Safari business

I have not seen anything like this in 40 plus years of booking hunts..

I am getting 10 to 25 emails a day from outfitters, mostly in Africa, but from all countries and the USA wanting a booking agent to pull them out of the fat..

Problem is were going to see a lot of booking agents, hunt consultants (same thing) fold up before this thing is over. I suspect some of the old timers will survive but the new guys on the block will probably just walk away from it, and go about their real jobs. Most of them book for free hunts anyway and they won't be able to do that for awhile in many cases..

This administration is effecting the whole damn world, and it just keeps getting worse as that glib talking idiot showman of a president prances around talking up the biggest con job since Enron...

It's just a sad state of affairs, but the upside is hunting is going to get cheaper, but no one but a select few will be able to afford it....

I guess I'll just hunker down, sell what I can, and wait it out. Been there before and it ain't my first Rodeo..And maybe, just maybe it will serve as a house cleaning and in the long run the industry will clean itself and return to normal..It happened like that last time, but we had a better man in the oval office last time. This time we have the three stooges, Obama, Palosi, and Reid...

The Outdoor Show in Harrisburg only had about 2-3 safari booking companies in attendance this year...Pretty sad. Didn't look like anyone was buying, either...

Ray,
Unfortunately, I am one of the ones that is being affected by this economy and am thus unable to take advantage of the great offers that are out there at the present time.

In your opinion, do you see any danger of many of these places that are currently offering discounted hunts actually going out of business and leaving hunters that perhaps signed on late in the game out in the cold, minus their deposits? Do you see a difference between Africa and North America?

By the way, I share your sentiments on our idiot in chief.

Test

Burner,
there were over 70 Africa hunting outfitters there , why would they need a booking agent ?
All the guys I talked to got at least one booking at harrisburg.
In their words better than nothing.
These next few years are gonna be tough and like Ray said there will be a weeding out process.

I didn't see that many of them. I was kinda surprised. I'm hoping it does get better. I felt bad for them, most of the safari guys were just standing around but the Sham-Wow booth(s) were packed.

If my bum hip could take the long flight's I'd be helping them out.

Don't know where you were, but there were probably at least 40 in the main hall & scattered around. The point is as Ray as stated the entire outfitting industry is in trouble. SCI's convention was down 33% & I was told by exhibitors that Dallas Safari Club was down at least that much. My SCI chapter in the Wash.,D.C. area just finished our outdoor show(I organized)& banquet which included hunt auctions. We made less on hunt auctions this year but more on exhibitors & silent auction items. We actually made more net profit this year than last. I would be very careful what outfitter I gave a deposit to. I would predict that many outfitters in the Western States will fold & some in Africa as well. I & most of my friends typically go on 2-3 guided hunts/year. This year none & probably the same for 2010.

Good News I think...NOW maybe the prices of hunts will stop increasing every year by 40%. This is the only good side to this economic crisis.

To address the question as to why these companies need a booking agent boils down to several things. They cannot book and hunt at the same time, and most prefer to use the booking agent. The complications of dealing with a client on the other side of the world with African communications is next to impossible..It works for both parties and the Safari companies prefer it for the most part..They all have the option of booking for themselves, that is not a concern to the booking agent. He gets a comm. for what he sells, end of story.

Add to that the fact that many clients prefer to work through a booking agent because the money stays in the USA until the last minute in a holding account, the booking agent has spent a lifetime picking and choosing the best safari companies he can find, it does not cost the client a nickle to get this kind of security plus the booking agent is or should be the answer to any questions you might have and can guide you to the hunter where he will turn you over to him. The booking agent is available for all complaints and has more control over refunds or settlements than any client simply because he is in a postition to cost the Safari Company some big bucks if he drops them over a client dispute...All of the Safari Companies know this, most clients that have hunted a lot know it, otherwise we would not be in business...

IMO, in todays economic conditions going through and agent is smart money, it's a safety net, not foolproof but pretty danm close if the client is in the right..

Yes, I'm prejudice as I am a booking agent, but that's my take on the subject, and its an honest approach to the subject.

Just the rest of the story as to why and how booking agents, hunt consultants, whatever you call us, have come about and become an industry within themselves..

If there was no need for us by the Safari Outfitters I assue you they would not be willing to pay our commissions, and hunters would not use us.

Ray,
My point was that there were 70 outfits at the show.
I agree a rep serves a valuble place in this business.
In a bad economy the buyers tend to gravitate to the deals and usually the best deals are found by dealing directly with the outfitter. That at least is the perception by many, I am sure that is not always the case.

Just an off topic question. Is there a booking agents assoc. ?
you know to police the ranks etc. ? just curious.

There are several booking agent assn's. but they are loose nit and really have no controls, much like outfitter assn. or even SCI for that matter..Ever try and get SCI involved in a bad outfitter case? They won't hardly do it...

I think most booking agents can get you the same deal that the outfitter does if the truth were known. It cost x dollars to do a Safari and that is the charge, some ingenious marketing just makes it look better as a rule:

Zimbabwe has an outfitter assn. that has been excellent in the past, but is probably pretty well casterated these days, but thats just a wild guess on my part..

Your best bet is how long the booking agent or outfitter has been in business, his reputation, his references, but word of mouth by those that hunt with him is probably your best bet, that and know where he lives so you can choke the living s--t out of him if you need to!

Your best deals come towards the end of the season to those who can jump on a plane and fly to Africa on a moments notice, usually taken advantage of by retired folks..

I daresay Mr. Atkinson has more experience in this area than many of us. Accordingly, I will defer to him: using a reputable booking agent makes sense (the operative word, of course, being "reputable"). As an example, a friend and I just returned from a five-day hunt in South Africa, which we purchased through Cabelas' "Outdoor Adventures." Cabelas has always done right by me,I have confidence in its reputation and customer service, and the hunt turned out exactly as advertised. Because we booked our hunt through Cabela's, we had someone to yell at, had it turned out otherwise. In short, a good booking agent is a sound investment.

We were just talking about this at work...several of us have been to Africa at least once...

If we knew we were gonna stay employed through '09, we'd go ahead and book hunts - it's a good time to go.

As it is we're just working hard staying employed and as of now I can only see as far as June - July....after that all bets are off.

Do you not think this will help the prices??? I think you will have some that have such a reputation that it will not hurt them.....the other side is small outfitters are going to be lost!

While doing the shows this year, I have had the opportunity to speak with a lot of outfitters from southern Africa about the 2009 season. Some of them have been here 10 to 12 weeks and many of them have spent upwards of 30,000 USD to fly here, fly around the USA, and stay in hotels eating meals out, and paying for the high cost of booths in each location. Most have spent upwards of 30,000 and several with a wife along have spent upwards of 50,000 USD for this business adventure. Some doing the SCI show were well above this expense.

This is a large chunk of cash to recover in a single season from the few foreign hunters that will actually go now with the econimic conditions. Imagine the rates needed to collect 30 to 50K over the course of a season!

Of the dozen or so outfitters that I know and visited with, more then half were here the whole time and did not book a single hunter, the remaining folks booked a few hunters each. The fella booking the most hunts had a 3000 dollar warthog, steenbok, blesbok wildebeest hunt for 7 days. But his trophy fees were about 30% higher then anyone else too. The hook was to get the hunters there on this cheap 4 animal hunt, and then hopefully make a few bucks on the added animals at an inflated price.

Imagine having come here to book 20-25 hunters and going home with ZERO hunters, after having spent 40K or more on this trip. How do you recover that? 40K USD is a mountain of money in RSA and Namibia. How do you stay in business with no hunters for a season?

The other side of the coin that many people seem to think is that the cost of safaris will drop and make it much more affordable. That's not exactly the case. There are still minimal operational costs and salaries. Going to the least expensive dirt cheap hunt with a starving outfitter will likely get you what your paying for. There are great outfitters with fair prices even in this difficult time, but once you get to the bottom you will likely not have the adventure or experience you think you were planning on.

It takes money to run a quality operation, and the less money these people have the less quality it will be. It's not rocket science to see this. I do think that at some point when we rebound from this in a few years time, that the game populations will be very strong, rather then the average of 60,000 trophies being exported from RSA per year, that number may only be 20-30,000 ( or less)which means many more older trophies over the coming years.

I personally do not see the economic conditions of the USA getting better with the current people running this. The ideas they have are clearly not right and this is no place for on the job training. Massive tax cuts and an elimination of capitol gains will kick start the housing market. I'm not sure how the government gives money away and thinks it will make things better. They have to collect that money from the people. Why bother collecting money from them only to give it back to others and assume this is going to somehow stimulate anything?

Hey I'm just a lowly PH not an econimist, but I don't think giving money to one person or group that you have taken from another person or group has ever improved anything. Remember give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Americans need jobs, not handouts!

JJ,
The other thing is you have a certain segment of the trade ( outfitters and Agents ) that will look you in the eye and tell you they are doing real well even when you know better!! add them to the real equasion and the outlook gets even worse..but I believe this too will come to pass sooner or later, but with the present administration it will be later I fear.

Our congress, Sentate is comprised of idiots attempting to run big business when they cannot even run their own..They are lieing their a$$es off to the public and getting caught doing it. It is a case of second liar doesn't stand a chance. Then pres. bozo the clown goes on TV, He needs to be in Hollywood, not running our country. Now Iraan will get the bomb, ain't that a dandy situation, a madman with a bomb..

I see an end to the big shows and reliance on web pages and agents as the way things will play out. The trips to the US and Europe were working holidays for many...hard working holidays. It was the old way, and they'll need to get with the new ways. If the outfitters save all that travel expense and use it to hold costs in line for clients, maybe it will become win-win for the PH and client. The show promoters will be the losers, however.

With my income down by 50% and net wealth down by 70% from last year, I've completely discounted any thoughts of ever returning to Africa.

On the up side, we might not see all the N. American hunting being gobbled up by outfitters here. The trend to "pay to hunt your public wild game" may have the brakes applied. I sure hope so and hope these shysters who tie up access to public land get theirs...a boot up their collective azzes!

I'm not so sure agents will be phased out or almost eliminated from the guided hunting market. With the possibility of many outfitters in N.A. & Africa going out of business a reputable agent with their hands in the market seems like the way to go. The large shows like SCI & Dallas Safari Club will probably have a reduction in outfitters for a few years. I expect our outdoor show(SCI chapter) in Wash.,D.C. to expand for next year. We sold all our hunts, but at a reduced return. Many outfitters have already committed for next year. This area has not been affected economically as much as other parts of the US. However, our family personnel placement business has crashed & burned after we took a huge financial loss. I'm almost 70 & still work, but may never recover financially.

It dosen't bother me .I never could afford a hunt in africa ,I am retired and my income stays the same forever.

When I went to SCI this year, all I heard were "Things are not down!" "It just thinned out the tire-kickers" Well had to call B-S. It was down a good 30% in attendence and a few of my buddies in the booking business said they were down close to the same.

The problem here is this is far reaching, its not just in the US. It is the UK, EU and abroad. Things are going to have to get cheaper, or money will have to increase in value (inflation) along with wages for this eco-crisis to get any better.

I will hunt Africa this year or next if I run accross a great deal.