Online air travel booking platform Travelstart has an unveiled a mobile website, with international flight booking capacity making it possible for travelers to compare thousands of flights in seconds.
The new booking site allows for multicity bookings, mix and match domestic flight booking functionality and the use of neXt – an online travel booking tool for travel agents. It’s set to rolled in Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Turkey where the firm has operations.
In a statement, Travelstart South Africa Country Manager Michelle Kleu said, “Mobile Internet access in South Africa has again turned a corner and the new mobi-site, built specifically for mobile screens, offers travellers everywhere a neatly stripped down version of the Travelstart.co.za website where customers can search and compare airline tickets prices in real time, book and pay for domestic and international flights and receive instant confirmation via email.”
The firm says the launch of Travelstart’s brand new mobile site comes at a time when mobile device and smartphone user penetration is at its highest in South Africa, with just a few users turning to voice. Mobile Internet usage has leapfrogged that of personal computers in these emerging economies, and the online travel agency has responded to this unprecedented growth with a mobi-site that serves the travel needs of Africa’s more isolated digital tribes.
“Cellphone users do everything desktop users do, provided it’s presented in a usable way. At Travelstart we wanted to create a mobile travel booking website that enhances our customers’ shopping experience as they seek real-time information on the go, while providing the all-encompassing functionality of the personal computer experience.” said Kleu.
Travelstart reported a 323% increase in mobile traffic between 2012 and 2013, while mobile devices overtook tablet devices in terms of traffic in 2013.