According to a report by iVeri Payment Systems, 'Payment Methods for Incoming Tour Operators in sub-Saharan Africa', the tourism industry in sub-Saharan Africa currently directly accounts for 2.7% of the GDP in sub-Saharan Africa.

The industry also directly generated approximately $36.6bn in 2013 with a forecast 4.7% increase expected for 2014. It is therefore an extremely important industry to the region. One of the major players in the tourism industry across Africa is that of inbound tour operators, who create and market travel products and services to customers mainly in long haul markets.

In their report iVeri highlights the unique considerations that incoming tour operators need to resolve when it comes to accepting payments. Some of these considerations include:

Cross border/international payments.
Currency conversion.
Secure payments.
Negotiable prices.

iVeri Payments Systems has identified the need for inbound tour operators to accept payments from international clients in a secure and convenient manner. To this end they have developed DiVert, a secure online payment platform which is an ideal remote electronic payment solution for merchants, such as inbound tour operators, who need to negotiate a final cost with their customers before receiving payment.

Personalised message

DiVert allows merchants who have remote customers to prompt for a card payment on a regular or ad hoc basis via email. Cardholders receive a personalised message requesting them to complete the transaction and DiVert will return a payment completion file to the merchant that can be imported to complete the process.

The instant delivery means a quick response time from customers and, most importantly, the customer's card details are entered in a secure environment and never seen by the merchant.