TRAVELSTART – Africa’s Leading Travel Agency Soars Sky High After Acquisition

The success of Travelstart, Africa’s largest online travel agency, is a timely reminder of rapid digitisation taking place on the continent. By 2022, it is estimated that Africa will be home to more than 636 million smartphone connections – double that of North America. Mobile data traffic is also expected to boom, increasing more than seven times its current rate.

According to Harvard Business Review, ‘digital technologies allow forward-looking businesses to recast Africa’s challenges as an opportunity to innovate and address massive unmet demand’.

Established by entrepreneur Stephan Ekbergh in Sweden in 1999, Travelstart relocated to Cape Town in 2006. From the southern tip of Africa, the online travel agency has grown its market presence to 18 countries across two continents.

Travelstart’s growth strategy has elevated the company into new sectors of travel and tourism, and MD Jerome Touze is optimistic about the future.

“Travelstart is an established business that is experiencing strong growth in our core geographies and this is something that we are very proud of,” he says. “We have a long history in the South African market and a very strong brand. We are the largest online travel agency in Africa, and we don’t rest on our laurels. We are confident about the new services that we are rolling out and we think there are plenty more opportunities ahead. We are always looking at how we can bring more convenience to our customers and creating a compelling travel booking platform is at the heart of our mission.”

FLAPP

When Enterprise Africa last spoke with Travelstart its flight booking app Flapp had exceeded one million downloads.

Today, Flapp is a driving force in how Travelstart connects with customers and Touze is keen to expand mobile services to satisfy more traveller needs.

“Flapp is definitely a core component of our strategy, especially in how we retain customers,” he says. “In the past few months, downloads have surged and we have seen a marked increase in the number of people who are comfortable with completing travel bookings on small screens. This year, flight bookings completed on the app increased by over 65% from 2018. Now, we are building out the app with features that will drive more engagement and loyalty.”

Across many industries, mobile has emerged as a dominant sales channel and at Travelstart it’s no different. Even with Africa’s notorious connectivity challenges and steep data prices, mobile is soaring.

“The key is in optimising the user experience and following through in all aspects of the customer journey; not just on mobile but across all touch points,” says Touze.

For more than a decade, Travelstart has had to adapt to constant change while remaining conscious of the nuances of each of its operating markets. “In Africa, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. To be successful, you need to be intimately in-step with your customers. Are they comfortable with self-booking or would they prefer to speak to a person? Which language do they want to communicate in? Do they have the means to pay online or are they cash buyers only? These behaviours vary from country to country and are a crucial part of winning customers.”

In addition to solving the big issues, Travelstart aims to go the extra mile and innovation is an important part of how the company sets itself apart from competitors. “One of the products we launched this year is an optional, automated flight check-in service. It reduces friction and makes our customer’s lives easier before departure. Even though it’s offered for a fee, people love it,” Touze says.

“We are investigating niche ancillaries such as flight compensation insurance to reimburse customers who experience delays or cancelled flights,” he adds.

FIRST CLASS ACQUISITION

At the heart of Travelstart’s success is an unrelenting focus on delivering a comprehensive platform and acquiring customers across territories. In December 2018, ‘Travelstart for Business’ launched in response to the lack of simple corporate travel solutions in the South African Market. The platform replicates the simplicity of its leisure offering with effortless reporting and booking tools for corporate travellers.

In October, Travelstart showed it is serious about corporate travel by wholly acquiring South Africa’s long-standing Club Travel Group.

“The strategic fit was very clear to all stakeholders,” confirms Touze. “We worked on the deal for more than a year and we are already working with our new partners to identify quick wins and synergies. Travelstart for Business will benefit from the experience and market coverage that Club Travel has earned over the years.”

November marked Travelstart’s first entry into road travel with the addition of a long-distance bus booking platform in South Africa. At the time, Touze told the media: “For 13 years, air travel has been our focus, but bus transport also fits with our mission to make all modes of travel simpler and more accessible for everyone.”

This type of extension will become more frequent as Travelstart’s integration with Club Travel takes hold. Touze offers some advice about acquisitions saying, “Cultural fit is as important as financial metrics when looking at acquisitions. After the deal was finalised, our staff count doubled overnight so you need to be cautious in how this expansion unfolds. In this case, both parties recognised the value in each other, and it has made the transition a lot smoother.”

ALWAYS EXPLORING

Travelstart’s growth beyond South Africa includes Tanzania, Egypt, Namibia and Nigeria where the local business has taken off. “We are happy with our growth across the board, but Nigeria has stolen the show this year. Affiliate marketing and paid advertising have contributed to this, but we have also hired excellent local talent and opened a new office in Lagos which serves as our first retail outlet. People can walk in and book a flight with an agent which people value in a country where distrust of online payment gateways is still a challenge.”

Since inception, Travelstart has prioritised the customer experience by practicing the core principles on which the company was founded. Even so, Touze says they can always do better.

“We believe we can do a much better job on mobile and we realise optimisation doesn’t end at launch. Refining the customer journey, lifting conversion rates and polishing content are ongoing and we have exceptional people in place to ensure we get the basics right. In Africa, where people do not always have access to Wi-Fi or fast networks, site and app speed are critical in delivering a service that people return to. Our engineers understand this and are constantly rolling out initiatives that enrich the nuts and bolts of the service,” says Touze.

AWARD WINNING

To round off a milestone year, Travelstart was named the Best Online Travel Agency at the Nigeria Tourism Awards and Travel Agency of the Year at the 2019 Pyne Awards.

“It’s nice to get recognition for the work that the team puts in. Our people do an amazing job and they can be proud of what has been accomplished this year.”

Travelstart collected these accolades by delivering beyond the digital details with an equally impressive culture of customer service. “Operations are geared throughout the funnel to assist customers with amendments, refunds and every other aspect of their trip. Our dedicated agents are available around the clock and this helps overcome the inherent barriers digital companies face.”

TRAVELSTART MEDIA

With an addressable audience of more than 50 million travellers globally, Travelstart introduced a media division in April 2019. Titled ‘Media Hub’, the B2B division offers Destination Marketing Organisations and travel and tourism businesses around the world a platform to promote their brands and services to an active community of world travellers.

“It was a natural evolution to connect our audience to appropriate third parties,” explains Touze. “The size of our audience is a strong proposition when we discuss sponsorship or advertising opportunities with Media Hub prospects. We can give them a voice that resonates with audiences they might not reach through their own marketing playbook. In a few months, we have signed commercial agreements with South Africa Tourism, Mauritius Tourism, Reunion Tourism and Thailand Tourism, to name a few.”

The success achieved by Travelstart is testament to the sound business and brand that has been developed with much hard work over the past 13 years. This growing business is succeeding thanks to a commitment to robust core values: Keeping it simple, romancing the customer, swimming upstream, and competing with a warrior spirit.