Hello everyone,

I’ll be honest, there were some moments that I felt like giving up this quarter. The projects that I have mentioned previously were taking much longer to accomplish than I had originally envisioned. I started to feel like I had no path ahead to take and that without a new updated platform I was not able to move forward. Intrusive thoughts like “this would be my last time in Madagascar” began to creep into my mind. Before these thoughts had the opportunity to entirely consume me, I asked myself: “while I had been waiting for everyone else to complete the projects that I had assigned to them, had I done absolutely everything I could with the tools I presently had? I took a long hard look in the mirror and had to be honest, the truthful answer was a resounding “no”.

So that’s when I decided to do everything in my power with all of the tools I had at my disposal to make the most of it. I took a week to reorganize and categorize all of the listings on our platform. Then I created a google form where travelers could request a special offer that was not already available. Adopting the attitude of making the most of what I did have, rather than allowing what I didn’t have to determine my progress caused me to become very busy this quarter. I began to receive lots of leads and even closed some deals. Once more, fighting through the struggles actually allowed me to learn a lot more about the products TourOnePlanet is selling. There are a lot of people to thank for the progress we’ve made this quarter, but most importantly we have our team of local vendors to thank for the patience and support they have shown as I have been fighting to take steps in the right direction.

In an effort to showcase different destinations around Madagascar while also networking with and recruiting local vendors, I have been a bit nomadic this year in Madagascar. I’ve called it the TIM Tour or the ‘I love Madagascar Tour’. This tour of course got started in the capital city of Antananarivo but then led me on a road trip with some travelers (who booked on our platform) down the RN7 to the village of Andavadoaka. There I spent around a month working primarily with our local vendor Valerio. With increased his available experience offers by 11 and also recruited a new local vendor, Dulvanie who added a bird watching experience and I am still finalizing the recruitment of one more local vendor there. We also landed a very valuable partnership with a local luxury hotel, Olô Bé Lodge. Guests staying at the hotel typically stay for only two nights. One of the reasons for this is that they sometimes lack the awareness of the activities that are available to them within the region. As a solution to this, the lodge agrees to showcase the offers from TourOnePlanet local vendors within their website with the goal of lengthening the stays of their guests while also increasing their support of the local economy.

After Andavadoaka I went by road to the beautiful coastal city of Fort-Dauphin. The road trip was filled with adventure and reminded me of the first time I fell in love with Madagascar. I’ve now been in Fort-Dauphin for around a month. The situation is a bit different as there is already quite a bit of development here. That being said, there are so many opportunities to increase experiential travel to both the city and the surrounding areas within the Anosy region. We are currently in the process of recruiting 3 new local vendors within the region and have added 4 new experiences to Agathe’s profile. As one of our earliest adopters, it was really such a joy to finally try out all of the different experiences that she is currently offering as she is an expert in sharing what makes her hometown so special.

There are still a couple of months before the end of the year and our schedule will be picking up the pace as we close it out. I still plan to visit destinations like Toamasina, Sava, Diego and Nosy Be while of course leaving enough time to visit with all of our contacts in the capital. Our end of the year update will be sure to have a lot more specifics in regards to the progress that we have made this year.

Thank you so much for your unconditional support in joining us to create the access that local communities need to determine their own outcomes of tourism.