Barely two months following entry into West Africa, Travelstart, an online booking and travel information site officially launched yesterday in Nigeria.
The site, originally Swedish, has seen its wings stretch across Africa with various countries including Tanzania, Namibia, Kenya and South Africa getting their own version of the site.
Speaking at the launch, Travelstart CEO Stephan Ekbergh said: “When we started out, the travel industry’s biggest problems were lack of choice, high travel fares, and extremely poor service. We wanted to change that and we knew the Internet would be the catalyst.”
Ekbergh noted Travelstart has been an incredible hit with customers throughout Africa and the build-up to launching in Nigeria has been the most exciting in years.
It’s like having a new baby in the family, he said, and we can’t wait to pass on cutting edge Web technology to an upwardly online nation!”
The splash entry to Nigeria came with good developments, boasts Ekbergh.
Within the 6 weeks it has been in Nigeria, Travelstart says, the booking value went top on the market as compared to the sister sites other countries it has already established itself.
According to Travelstart, already 10 percent of its customer base is made up of repeat clients while. Sixty-percent are from Nigeria.
“This is indicative of our positioning as a multinational company of global standard,” Head of New Markets at Travelstart Maija de Rijk-Uys said.
The online travel agency is set to include all major international and local airlines. Users in Nigeria would book hotels and cars on the platform.
Travelstart is a company known for innovation in online travel technology and superior customer service. After launching in Scandinavia in 1998, Travelstart experienced exponential growth, before selling the brand to partners in Northern Europe.
Arik, Delta, and Rwand Air sponsored the launch held at the Lagos Oriental Hotel.
