Dreaming 2 1 year
One day 25 years ago, RohanVos, a South African born in Britain, successfully managed the auto parts business. He and his wife Anthea unexpectedly received an invitation to take a steam train trip. Lohan, who loved machinery all the way, soon fell in love with this rumbling behemoth and talked with the locomotive driver almost all the way. After returning, he quickly attended an auction held by the local traditional train protection club and owned his first old-fashioned train carriage. Since then, Lohan's obsession with trains has been out of control. He dreams of taking his family and traveling in beautiful Africa on his own luxury train. Four years later, in April of 1989, Lohan established the RovosRail private train company named after his initials, and successfully carried out its first commercial operation. His incredible luxury train with colonial style surprised everyone. 10 years later, Lohan has owned three complete trains and four steam locomotives, which was rated as one of the top ten most luxurious trains in the world by National Geographic magazine. Now, the "pride of Africa" RovosRail train will move into its own exclusive home-the beautiful private bus station in Capital Park, and Rohan's dream has finally come true.
The story of the birth of the real African Pride Train is as follows: the founder Mr. RohanVos was initially invited to help set up a steam train protection organization, which made Rohan think of an idea to build a private antique train with two or three carriages for his family. When he further envisaged selling some train tickets to share some funds for his family's private train travel, RovosRail Train Company came into being. In the past 20 years, RovosRail has made proud achievements in the field of luxury train tourism in the world.
Rohanwos, who knew nothing about luxury train travel before, started this business with his hobby. RovosRail, the "pride of Africa" train, did not copy the experience of any other luxury train, but developed its independent personality in a completely different way, reaching a new level of luxury train travel. Rohan is tall, so his demand for spacious private space and comfort on the train directly contributed to the design concept of Rovos rail car. The "African Pride" train takes the area of private space to the extreme. The room area is the largest among all luxury trains in the world, and it is declared as "the most luxurious train in the world". Lohan's wife, Anthea, is responsible for the interior decoration and soft design of the train. The original purpose was to make the "African Pride" train an elegant and comfortable home. With the passage of time, RovosRail has introduced wonderful train tour routes with various themes and lengths, and has gradually become the most luxurious train in the world today.
In the process of collecting antique trains, the South African Railway Dining Car written by LesPivnic gave Rohan great help. According to the description in the book, Lohan began to look for various famous carriages in the history of trains all over the country. This historic carriage and dining car was excavated and collected from waste centers, private companies and clubs all over the world. By 2000, the staff of RovosRail had successfully collected 60 carriages. In the next three years, every month, an old train car will be completely renewed in the hands of craftsmen, becoming an extremely elegant and luxurious RovosRail car. These cars painted in uniform, noble and green show the elegance of the southern African railway to top players from all over the world.
RovosRail luxury train "Pride of Africa" has six steam locomotives running all year round, which is exquisite and unique. The oldest one is called Tiffany, and its history can be traced back to 1893. This exquisite steam locomotive also reflects Lohan's love for trains and will be carefully maintained and overhauled before operation. She is also the oldest steam locomotive still in operation in the world.
Today, RovosRail trains proudly own more than 75 luxury cars and six steam locomotives that operate all year round. At the same time, Rovos train also has its own private railway station, located in CapitalPark, Pretoria, South Africa. Located in Capital Park, this private railway station covers an area of more than 56 hectares, with 15 tracks, with a total length of 12 km, of which 100 m railway is covered by sheds. 40 loaders are on standby at the coal replenishment platform; What is most worth mentioning is the private waiting room and boarding platform with strong Victorian style. The headquarters of the African Pride Train is also located on the platform, so you can arrange a visit to this living railway museum for steam train lovers.
John Voss' Differentiated Competition
Differentiated competition: Differentiated competition is something that differentiates the products or services provided by enterprises and establishes the uniqueness of enterprises in the whole industry. There are many ways to achieve differentiated competition, such as the uniqueness of product design, brand, technology, product function, customer service and business network. I think when JohanVos became obsessed with his train, he might not have the energy to understand or learn the concept of "differentiated competition", but in fact, what he created and did was completely within this category. Let's take a look at the 12 difference of JohanVos train.
1. owns a private railway station.
Passengers enjoy live performances and red carpet treatment on the platform when they leave.
The room in the box is quite spacious.
4. The big bed in the box does not need to be folded, saving space.
There is a mini-bar in the box, a cigar bar, a small library and a small mailbox in the car, and afternoon tea is also provided in the leisure car.
6.24-hour personal service is on call, free ironing and limited laundry service are also provided.
7. Each box has its own bathroom with a bathtub and 24-hour hot water.
8. The dining car in the train has enough space for all distinguished guests to eat at the same time, without reservation or waiting for seats.
9. The luxury of the train can also be reflected in the fact that VIPs don't have to worry about meals. The tour includes all the full English breakfast buffet, lunch and dinner (full menu), cooked by famous chefs. After dinner, VIPs can also make friends and chat in the lounge and observation deck.
10. Personal service is meticulous, providing 24-hour room service.
1 1. The rear of the train is a panoramic trunk, and the rear of the trunk is a deck terrace. Wild animals such as antelopes and ostriches often haunt Yuan Ye on both sides of the railway.
12. Mr. Rohanwos will personally greet every distinguished guest at the departure desk. Each passenger will also receive a unique certificate signed by Mr. Voss, witnessing that you have taken the most luxurious train in the world.
Orientation of ethnic minorities
It is not difficult to see that Mr. RohanVos commercialized his pleasure into a niche business model, but it is also very high-end. Since 2009, due to the global economic recession, consumers have reduced their travel expenses, and the once "hot" African tourism has begun to cool down again. In 2009, the growth momentum of the number of tourists to Africa slowed down significantly. Osman Ndiaye, the official in charge of African tourism of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, once said that the number of tourists to Africa will still increase by 2% to 3% in 2009, but it is lower than 5% in 2008 and 8% in 2007. 20 10 due to the great influence of the FIFA world cup, African tourism has turned for the better. Although the number of tourists visiting Africa has been increasing in recent years, it is less than 5% of the global tourists, so there is still great potential for the development of tourism in Africa. Then, Mr. RohanVos's Six Trains will always blend the essence of African primitive and modern artistic civilization.
The "pride of Africa" with aristocratic descent and its antique carriage have a history of 100 years. The interior decoration of the box is elegant, with a strong Victorian retro mood. On the "Pride of Africa" train with an average speed of only 70 kilometers per hour, you can see the beautiful scenery of Yuan Ye in Africa along the way. At the stops along the way, you can also relive the legendary experiences of African developers and explorers in the past.
The whistle sounded in the ear, and Mr. Rohan Voss, the owner of South Africa's "Pride of Africa" luxury train, personally boarded the platform to make a speech. The ladies and gentlemen whose names were read out walked on the red carpet one by one and boarded the train with the conductor. Smoke is sprayed into the air from the chimney of the steam locomotive, water vapor permeates the platform, and fine smoke like snowflakes slowly falls in the sky. The scene in front of us is not from an old Victorian movie. This is the welcoming ceremony held at the private bus station in Pretoria, the pride of Africa, before the train leaves.
When the train leaves Pretoria, tourists put on goggles and stick their heads out of the train to enjoy the scenery-African green Yuan Ye, residential courtyards with blooming flowers, flocks of cattle and sheep pastures changing in front of them like vivid African documentaries. Lying in the big bathtub with Victorian claws in the bathroom, while taking a bath, I enjoyed the spectacular sight of ostriches and antelopes running with the train through the big window opposite the bathtub. Occasionally, I will see flamingos living in groups in the lake. Walk through the floor-to-ceiling glass door at the end of the train at night. Sitting on the bench of the observation deck at the rear of the car, the fresh air mixed with the faint scent of grass is refreshing, and the starry night sky is refreshing.
The train stopped at Kimberley, a famous diamond city in South Africa, and Magfindan, an ancient town in the wilderness. In the early years, countless diamond miners failed to leave the harsh land of Kimberley alive. Now tourists can enjoy the fun of safely panning for diamonds here. Majefontein was once the battlefield where the Boers hit the British hard. Look at the museum in town that keeps Queen Victoria's letters to boost the morale of the army. Or drink a glass of local beer with an ancient organ in a pub, and you will feel the vicissitudes of history.