Tech-savvy travellers embrace the Internet in planning their tours

Technology has made it easier for clients to make virtual bookings. 

By ANNIE NJANJA

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Summary

• Latest technologies have made it possible for people to buy tickets and complete the check-in process from anywhere.
• In Africa, there is a very young population and below the age of 35 who are fast adapters of technology, a huge population already has access to mobile phones.
• In Kenya 30 per cent of the population have smartphones and this is a huge potential for stakeholders in the e-commerce sector.

In the past, buying an air ticket required one to physically visit a travel agent or an airline’s office. The check-in process was also a manual function that needed the services of an airline desk agent, tasked with confirming the reservation against the actual ticket before the passenger was allowed on board.

Less than two decades later, and with the advent of the Internet and other technologies, travel has become easier, affordable and the associated process a lot leaner.

Latest technologies have made it possible for people to buy tickets and complete the check-in process from anywhere.

And although it took some time before Africa adopted the online technologies, travellers have now embraced the change and are enjoying the advantages that come with it.

The 2017 Hospitality Report by Jumia, Ethiopian Airlines and Accor Hotels, a France-based hospitality group, shows that local travellers heavily rely on Internet and technology while planning for tours.

“In Africa, there is a very young population and below the age of 35. They are fast adapters of technology, a huge population already has access to mobile phones.

“In Kenya 30 per cent of the population have smartphones and this is a huge potential for stakeholders in the e-commerce sector,” says Jumia Travel eastern and southern Africa managing director Estelle Verdier.

The 2016 Communications Authority of Kenya second quarter data shows that the Internet mobile penetration stands at 89.7 per cent while mobile phone subscribers hit 38.9 million.

The hospitality report, which covered a number of African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal, shows that locals conduct online searches to check out various accommodation options before calling the hotels for bookings.

Hotels in Nairobi were the most searched for followed by those in Mombasa and Naivasha, respectively.

Tech-based travel products such as Jumia Travel have made it easy for people to flip through various accommodation options available online for price comparison and to have a feel of what is on offer.

The online hotel listing portal has in the recent past introduced visa processing services and new packages targeting business travellers.

“People think that travel is expensive, but this is not the case. Jumia Travel has come aboard to make travel cheaper and easy for everyone. We negotiate on behalf of clients and adapt to different payment modes to ensure that we do not leave out anyone,” says Verdier.

Further, Internet connection ranked second after parking in the list of amenities sought after by travellers, with the Jumia report indicating that 88 per cent of travellers in Kenya looked up for the service in hotels.

Additionally, most travellers checked their destination on the Internet before travelling with 44 per cent doing a search a week to travel while 49 per cent checked between two weeks and two months before travel.

Only seven per cent went online for advance searches more than two months before travel.

It also emerged that only 25 per cent of travellers made an online booking on the same day of travel. About 55 per cent and 20 per cent of travellers made bookings seven days and more than a week before travel, respectively.

The report further notes that 70 per cent of locals prefer to book hotels on computers while 30 used smartphones. It also stated that 59 per cent of local travellers used computers to do online searches with only 37 per cent and four per cent using mobile phones and tablets respectively.

Globally, out of the 143.8 million hotel reservations made, smartphones accounted for 65 per cent of devices used in the bookings.

However, the survey also found out that 52 per cent of Kenyans making hotel bookings prefer to pay cash despite the booming mobile money economy while mobile money payments only accounted for 32 per cent of bookings, with card payment taking a 15 per cent share.

Adapting to the needs of the tech-savvy travellers has now become a need and hospitality groups are now bending towards this new shift.

For instance, the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which owns the Radisson Hotels, recently launched the Radisson Red brand which promises to shatter all traditional expectations of what fancy hotels should be.

Always connected

A 2016 report by Amadeus, an IT solutions provider for the travel and hospitality industry, notes that the new shift is inspired by the millennials, as hotel guests, who are “more tech-savvy, always connected, and more informed than ever before, with access to online reviews and social media.”

“It is all about music, art and fashion, quite tech-savvy; there is no reception desk when you walk in, you get into an art gallery.

“The hotel app will make it possible for you to check in online before you arrive at the hotel, and when you get there, depending on the model of phone, it becomes the key you need to access floors and go through doors,” Andrew McLachlan, Amadues senior vice president, business development, Africa and Asia, told the the Business Daily in a past interview.