Dear Travel Agent, Let Your Website Work For You
Have you ever gone skydiving?
Not yet? You should put it on your bucket list. Why? Because you’ll get a chance to scream as loud as you want, and more importantly you will start to understand that fear is just a state of mind. Here’s Raymond Oluoch, a former developer at Legibra, screaming his heart out while skydiving in Diani.
The Skydiving Story
It all happened back in 2016 when our CEO, Felix Mbugua, determined to gift us with an unforgettable experience for Christmas, decided to take us down to the coast (Ukunda) for a skydive over the Indian Ocean.
Mercy Rop enjoys the view from 12,000 ft above the sea level
Just like any trip, we had to prepare. Who is offering skydiving services at the coast? How much is it going to costs us? What are the requirements for taking a skydive? More importantly, whom can we trust to give us the best experience?
Fortunately, we had just finished developing and designing a website for one of the world’s most renowned skydivers- SkyDive Diani. The team boasted of the most qualified skydivers in the world; this could have heavily contributed to our CEO’s decision.
The sky gods of Skydive Diani
During our preparation, all we had to do, was check their website for all the information we needed. Besides, having our offices in Nairobi meant that physically going to Mombasa to look for skydiving services would not only be expensive, but also time-consuming. A search on google, however, would only require a few clicks.
The preparing for our skydiving trip only took a few clicks on their well-designed website and a call to confirm receipt of payment. Having booked an appointment for Saturday at noon, we anticipated the experience of our lives. Skydive Diani did not disappoint.
Are You Making It Easy for Your Clients to Find You?
Imagine if SkyDive Diani did not have a website? Or, worse yet, if they had an outdated site which gives a poor experience on mobile and taken ages to load. Do you think we’d be talking about them in such favourable light?
As a travel agent in Kenya, it’s crucial to acknowledge that Kenyan travellers are highly tech-savvy. In fact, according to Jumia Travel‘s Chief of Operations, Estelle Verdier, Kenyans are among the most tech-savvy people.
Jumia Travel’s Chief of Operations, Estelle Verdier,
Kenyans are not afraid of new tech solutions especially when mobile based. Close to 70% of the visits on our website are from mobile devices in Kenya. In this market, we have to adopt a mobile-first approach and keep in mind that people will be booking on the go. Kenyans also like to interact with our team, and our live chat is very popular.”
Said Estelle Verdier, COO at Jumia Travel during the Hospitality Report earlier last week.
Estelle advised travel agents and hotel owners to leverage technology in creating more bridges between customers and hotels. Also, if you think about it, it’s easier for your client to find more information about your hotel on your website than it is for them to battle through traffic just to come to your physical location.
In conclusion;
With over 2 million unique website visitors on the Jumia Travel website, travel agents in Kenya should consider investing on their websites to ensure they are available on the go and they can easily integrate with platforms like Jumia Travel. After all, according to a 2017 report from the Communications Authority of Kenya, over 100% of Kenyans now have access to the internet.