Travelstart Nigeria’s Newest Online Travel Agency Launches

Twelve weeks after launching its beta version in Nigeria, Travelstart has released its online travel booking website with full functionality including flight, hotel and car rental booking capabilities. The new hotel and car hire portals are integrated into the flight booking website and can be found at www.travelstart.com.ng.

Currently an industry leader in its prime market of South Africa, the popular travel website has launched in Nigeria to much acclaim. Bookings sales value in Nigeria surpassed other Travelstart markets in Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya just 6 weeks after launching.

According to Worldbank (2010), Nigeria is the technology hub of West Africa with more than 45 million Internet users and 30% Internet penetration. “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”, CEO Stephan Ekbergh says. “It’s like having a new baby in the family and we can’t wait to pass on cutting edge web technology to an upwardly online nation!”

The online travel agency offers cheap flights on all major airlines including but not limited to Arik Air, Qatar, Delta and Ethiopian Airlines to United Airlines, as well as all major regional and international players flying in and out of Nigeria. In addition, the website is currently the only online travel website in Nigeria that allows outbound flights to be booked from any location worldwide.

10% of Travelstart users are already repeat customers having booked with the online travel agency twice or more. “This is indicative of our positioning as a multinational company of global standard.” says Maija de Rijk-Uys, Head of New Markets at Travelstart. Maija continues, “Since launching in Nigeria, over 60% of bookings have been regional and international with Arik Air being by far the main seller. The steady increase in bookings week-on-week is largely because the Travelstart brand is experiencing tremendous growth across various online channels like Facebook. We also have the Nigerian blogging community to thank who have received the Travelstart concept well and have been instrumental in distributing the website to their readers.”

All payments made on Travelstart Nigeria can be done by Credit and Debit Card (Visa and MasterCard are accepted), as well as paying cash at the Lagos office or using QuickTeller.  Customers can also pay for bookings at Zenith, Access, GT Bank, UBA, First Bank or Ecobank by direct deposit or EFT.

Visit Travelstart Nigeria online for more.