No sir
I think you are wrong here
We do not perceive us or euro hunters to be rich
But we also need to make a profit in our seasonal business so we can sustain for the year and be back the following season guiding clients and fulfilling their dream hunts
And hopefully one or two return in a year or two for another hunt .
This is not a get rich quick business and if you own your own land and emply your staff on a permanent basis as we do at tallyho then its a matter of making enough in season and to cover all costs and keeping everyone fed in the off season
As one of many of the respected sponsors and outfitters here on AH;
Rhetorical questions:
Do you own and only hunt your property/properties?
Do you pay or lease other property/ properties for clients to hunt on?
Please correct me if I'm wrong but aren't VATs a sort of government tax for the privilege to operate a hunting concession and the more hunters the outfitter hosts the more the VATs the outfitter has to pay?
Because an outfitter hunts another's farm the outfitter compensates the farmer for the animal hunted regardless whether the animal was successfully retrieved or considered lost?
By referring to seasonal business it's implied you are outside RSA which hunts year round. This also implies higher government land lease rates plus the added tribal land use fees.
Thereby outfitters are in away just one form of a country's bank;
The outfitter has to pay:
Government
Employees
Tribe(s)
Suppliers
Themselves
The outfitters only income is from clients, mostly from the US and Europe, this income is paid by USD and Euros at a considerable exchange rate. When the government wants more money from the outfitters all others want more money from the outfitters, thus outfitters have to charge clients more money to make ends meet.
As you put it [outfitters are]....not in a get rich quick business....for themselves......but for the others outfitters rely on and support.
In essence hypothetically speaking:
An outfitter needs 30 hunting clients at an average of $30,000.00USD and 15 tourist clients at an average of $15,000.00 per year to perverbially make ends meet. That equates to $1,125,000.00USD at $15.00 Local Currency to $1.OOUSD equates to 16,875,000.00 annually.
Subtracting listed below annual expenses with an estimated average of 9% per expense: estimated equates to 90% of annual income: 15,187,500.00LC
$112,500.00USD
employee payroll,
government and tribal land leases, vehicles fuel, oil, repairs and maintenance,
property/properties improvements, repairs and maintenance,
other equipment repairs and maintenance,
food, lodging and other supplies for clients,
VATs and other government fees, miscellaneous and general operating supplies and expenses,
travel and advertising expenses
general household expenses
Rough estimated annual outfitter profit balance: 1,687,500.00LC or $112,500.00USD
Reduction Variables to the outfitters estimated annual profit:
Currency daily exchange rate
Not meeting the annual quota of 30 hunting clients and 15 tourist clients
Medical expenses
Hiring additional employees temporary and/or full time
Pandemic/epidemic catastrophe human and/or animal
Poachers/poaching activities
Drought/ flood/ fire weather related disaster(s)
I agree an outfitter is not a get rich quick business. But on the middleman who pays all the others because all the others are looking- thinking all the outfitter has to do is increase their fees on the rich American and European clients.
Long winded response but I hope I made my point clear without offending any outfitter sponsors of AH. It's not just Africans that think all Americans and Europeans are rich, people in other countries I've been to in South America, Mexico, etc. mistakenly think the same thing.