What Documentation Explola Requires and Why

Why we ask for documentation

Every operator on Explola is a real, registered tourism business. We verify that with documentation up front so that travellers booking on our platform know they're dealing with a legitimate, licensed company. Three things drive what we ask for:

• Regulator compliance. Most safari countries license their tour operators. Showing a current licence proves you're allowed to sell tours where you operate.
• Trust with travellers. Travellers research operators carefully before booking thousand-dollar trips. A verified compliance badge on your profile shortens that decision.
• Banking and payments. Our financial partners require us to perform basic Know Your Customer (KYC) checks on the businesses on our platform. This is industry standard.

The four document categories

Across every country we serve, we ask for the same four categories of documentation. The specific document name and issuing authority vary by jurisdiction — see the per-country guides below — but the categories are consistent:

1. Tourism License

A current licence from your country's tourism regulator authorising you to operate. This is the single most important document — it proves the host government recognises your right to sell tours. Tourism licences typically expire annually; you'll need to renew yours before it lapses.

2. Business Registration

A certificate from your country's companies registrar proving your business legally exists. For incorporated companies this is usually a Certificate of Incorporation; sole proprietors can submit the local equivalent (we list the accepted alternative for each country).

3. Tax Compliance

A current tax-clearance document from your country's revenue authority. This shows your business is up to date with its tax obligations. Like the tourism licence, these usually renew annually.

4. Shareholder Document

An official document listing the shareholders or owners of your business. We use this to confirm we know who we're doing business with, which is a requirement of our banking partners. We never publish shareholder names — they're only visible to our verification team.

Sole proprietors are welcome

If you operate as a sole proprietor rather than an incorporated company, Explola supports that fully. Each jurisdiction guide lists the sole-proprietor alternative document (typically a Certificate of Registration or equivalent). You won't need a separate shareholder document if there are no shareholders other than yourself.

How we handle your documents

Uploaded documents are stored on encrypted private storage. Only Explola staff who review compliance can access them. We do not share them with travellers, other operators, or any third party — they're used exclusively to verify your operator account. We retain documents for as long as your account is active so we can re-verify on renewal; if you close your Explola account, we delete them.

What happens after you upload

Each document goes through manual review by our team. You'll see one of three statuses on each document:

• Pending — uploaded, waiting for review (usually 1–3 business days).
• Verified — accepted. Counts toward your jurisdiction compliance.
• Rejected — something needs to be fixed. The rejection note explains what.

Once all four documents for a jurisdiction are Verified, you can publish tours from that jurisdiction. If a verified document later expires, Explola sends advance reminders (30 days, 7 days, and on the day of expiry) and gives you a 14-day grace period afterwards to upload a renewal before tours from that jurisdiction are automatically unpublished.

Country-specific guides

The exact documents required vary by country. See the guide for your jurisdiction in this section of the help centre — each one lists the canonical document name, the regulator that issues it, and the sole-proprietor alternative where applicable.