My original goal was to get to Morocco this year. Morocco is one of the places my mum travelled to when she was living in the UK on her “OE”, or overseas experience for those not brought up in NZ. I grew up listening to stories of her travels, through Europe, Russia and Morocco and have always wanted to visit these places for myself.

So, Morocco is definitely still on the travel wish list, however when the chance came up to travel to Egypt with a friend this year, we couldn’t pass it up.

While studying for Prince2, the material called on me to create my own business case for a project. At the time I had only one thing on my mind.. So here is my business case for travel to Egypt and Jordan – probably not what the tutors had in mind but it kept me interested.

The Egypt and Jordan Holiday Project Business Case

Executive Summary:

A two-week tour of Egypt and Jordan with a friend in November 2015.

Reasons:

• The pyramids of Egypt are one of the 7 wonders of the world and are something that Ben and I both want to see.
• I want to experience swimming in the Dead Sea in Jordan.
• We have a good friend travelling at this time and she is interested in doing the same tour.
• November is a good time to visit both countries as the temperature is milder and it is not high tourist season.
• Friends of ours did a similar tour two years ago and highly recommended it.

Business options:

1. Join on the Ancient Encounters 2 week tour of Egypt and Jordan with our friend. Our chosen option.
2. Go for only 1 week- cost savings are minimal as we still have the same flight costs and only slightly reduced tour costs. We would save on leave. However we would only be able to see one country on that part of the tour.
3. Go to Egypt and Jordan but don’t join on the tour. This would involve a lot of extra planning in preparation and mean a lot of unknowns when we get there. By joining a tour we gain the experience of professional guides and tried and tested activities and routes.
4. Go somewhere else on our travel wish list. This means we could tailor our holiday to suit any cost or time restrictions, however our friend won’t be with us.
5. Don’t go anywhere: We save the money we would have spent on flights and the tour and could put it towards house savings. We would also save 10 days of leave that could be used for other holidays or periods off.

Expected Benefits:

• New experiences and our first taste of Africa
• Relaxing and refreshing holiday away from work. Lots of down time and opportunities to explore
• New friendships we can make on the tour within the tour group
• Well organised and comprehensive travel plans prepared for us.
• We can tick Egypt and Jordan off our travel wish list
• Pictures and stories of our trip can be shared with friends

Expected Dis-benefits:

• Disruption to our work schedule
• Uses up remaining leave allocation for the year, so we have to forgo all other holiday options
• Spending money on holiday, takes away from our house saving priorities

Time Scale:

• The holiday will take 16 days, which means 10 days of leave
• The expected benefits will be experienced during and soon after the holiday

Costs:

• Flights are £900 for both of us
• The tour is £1149 each at face value however we hope to get a discount at the TNT Travel Show
• Insurance will be £100
• Spending on the trip is estimated to be £400 each for tips and excursions
• The cost of travel vaccinations (unknown)

Major Risks:

• The political climate in Egypt and Jordan may make things dangerous for tourists and the tour might be cancelled
• The foreign food and unclean water could make us sick
• We may not enjoy the tour activities, it may not be what we were expecting

Investment Appraisal:

We’re going to go for it!!

It is a lot of money but we think the experiences we will gain and the enjoyment we get out of it will far out way the costs. The Ancient Encounters tour is good value for money and they have a good reputation.

All photos are from the Encounters Travel website