Project Overview
Client: Hamsses Tours & Travel Ltd – a licensed Ugandan tour operator. qasystem.utb.go.ug
What we did: Designed and developed their website, created graphic assets, and wrote all the web content.
Duration: 1 month
Goal: To build a modern, high-trust digital presence that reflects Hamsses’s expertise in both adventure tourism (safaris, weekend getaways) and faith-based travel (Muslim tours, Hajj & Umrah), while making it easy for customers to browse, book, and pay flexibly.
Challenge / Problem
Hamsses came to us facing several challenges:
- Lack of coherent online presence: Their previous digital presence didn’t fully reflect their range of services or brand personality, making it harder for potential travelers to trust and engage.
- Complex service offerings: They provide a wide variety of tours — from weekend getaways in Uganda to Safaris across East Africa, plus specialized Muslim journeys including Hajj & Umrah — which meant organizing content in a way that was both intuitive and informative.
- Booking friction: They wanted a simple customer journey that supports “Book Now, Pay Later”, giving flexibility to travelers, but needed to ensure trust and clarity in how bookings and payments work.
- Brand consistency: Their visual brand (logo, graphics) needed to be lifted to match the quality of the tours they offer, so design and content both had to communicate expertise, warmth, and adventure.
Solution / Our Approach
We took a holistic, user-centric approach, breaking the project into three major phases.
1. Discovery & Strategy
- Stakeholder interviews & brand workshop: We met with the Hamsses team to understand their mission, values, target customers (solo travelers, groups, faith-based travelers), and pain points.
- Competitive and market research: We analyzed other tour operators in Uganda and East Africa to understand messaging, design trends, and content needs.
- User journey mapping: We mapped out how a typical customer would come to the site, browse tour packages, decide, and pay — especially considering their Book Now, Pay Later model.
2. Design & Graphics
- Website wireframes & UI design: We created wireframes that segmented the different service types (safaris, Muslim tours, international travel) and prioritized ease of navigation.
- Visual identity refresh: Built or refined their graphic assets — hero banners, icons, imagery — to evoke adventure, trust, and local knowledge.
- Responsive design: Ensured the website looked great and performed well on both desktop and mobile, which is critical for travelers.
3. Content Creation
- Content strategy: We developed a content plan to clearly explain tour types, outline inclusions (meals, transport, park fees), FAQ, payment terms, and safety.
- Copywriting: We wrote the site content in a way that is both engaging and informative — speaking to different customer personas (adventurers, spiritual travelers, groups).
- SEO: While preserving a natural, warm tone, we also optimized headings, tour descriptions, and service pages for search (especially local and tour-specific keywords).
Results
Here’s what was achieved through our collaboration:
- Professional, trust-building web presence: The new website clearly represents Hamsses’s brand promise — “Local Expertise. Transparent Pricing. Group & Solo Options.” Hamsses Tours and Travels
- Simplified customer journey: Visitors can easily navigate between different kinds of tours (safaris, Muslim journeys, international), understand what’s included, and book securely.
- Flexible payment communication: The Book Now, Pay Later feature is clearly explained on booking pages and in the FAQ, reducing friction and increasing confidence. Hamsses Tours and Travels
- Consistent and compelling brand voice: The content feels friendly, knowledgeable, and trustworthy — helping Hamsses position itself as both a local and a global tour operator.
- Scalable foundation: With the new website, Hamsses now has a platform they can expand (more tours, blog, partner integrations) — all on a well-structured, content-rich base.
- Professional Business standing Via a Google Business Profile and a LinkedIn company page
What We Learned / Key Take-Aways
- Understanding business complexity is crucial: For a company like Hamsses that offers very different service lines (safaris vs faith travel), taking time in discovery to map customer journeys ensured the design would support all use cases.
- Simplicity builds trust: Even with flexible payment schemes (“Book Now, Pay Later”), clarity in design + content matters to reduce customer anxiety.
- Design is more than aesthetics: The graphics and UX helped reinforce Hamsses’s values — of local knowledge, safety, and meaningful travel — which is essential in the travel space.
- Scalable content strategy: Writing evergreen, SEO-optimized content means the website can continue to grow without needing a major content overhaul soon.
Our Role
- Role: Web design & development, brand graphics, content writing
- Client collaboration: We worked closely with the Hamsses Tours leadership team on vision alignment, content validation, and feedback cycles.