City of Choice Travel & Tours

Most South Africans think they know everything that KwaZulu-Natal and Durban have to offer – but Brenda and Guru Roopai think differently.

“People have this idea that KwaZulu-Natal is the province of the Zulu – and they’re right – but there is so much more to it,” says Brenda. Take the two-day Fire of Fusion tour offered by the Roopais’ business, City of Choice Travel & Tours, and you will find yourself immersed in the astonishing cultural variety that makes Durban unique in South Africa – and the world.

City of Choice will take you to monuments, museums and markets that bear witness to the many different worlds that collided in this Indian Ocean entrepot; Zulu, Muslim, Hindu, Afrikaner, English and German.

“Durban is full of surprises, full of hidden treasures,” says Brenda who has worked full-time for the last two years at the business she and Guru started in 2004.

One hundred percent every time

With three vehicles and a staff of eight including themselves, City of Choice does almost the full gamut of travel services. Car hire, transfers, accommodation, Flight bookings and full itinerary planning are the bedrock of the business, a bedrock which, as Brenda puts it, “has to be done 100% all the time every time”.

In a competitive business such as tourism, City of Choice Travel has carved out a few special niches which have been enthusiastically taken up by the trade. One of these niches is their wellness tours; visits to well renowned spas woven into tours that take in KwaZulu-Natal’s incomparable blend of big game, Berg and beach. “It’s a holistic offering that is unique. People nowadays really need to unwind and to pamper themselves but at the same time they want a real travel experience,” says Brenda. “We do all of this with our wellness tours and more. People are able to take in the sights and sounds of KZN in a  totally relaxing tour.”

Bunny chow comes standard

Lifting the lid on Durban’s cultural melting pot is a speciality of City of Choice. Spend time with their guides (everyone in the company, including a German staffer, lead tours) and you will visit Hindu temples, Mahatma Gandhi’s haunts, mosques and churches and the places where KwaZulu-Natal’s history unfolded. You will, of course, be treated to a bunny chow and some of the best curries this side of Mumbai.

Relative newcomers to the tourism and travel industry, Brenda and Guru appreciate every bit of help they get, especially the help from TEP. “TEP have been the most amazing support to us,” comments Brenda. “They’ve helped us with our marketing and, most importantly, market access. They’ve introduced us to business partners and people who will be important to our business in the long term.”

Brenda, has no regrets about giving up the pharmaceuticals business to invest herself totally in her booming tourism business. “It fits our personalities completely,” Brenda says. “Guru and I love meeting people. We love travel and we love sharing our world with new people but we especially love investing in people and investing in our own communities. We bring young people into the business, young people with the same passion we have for service excellence. I believe that if you’re ripe you rot but if you’re green you grow. The people who work here are all special. In this business they have to be.”