Africa is leap frogging earlier forms of media and moving straight to booking travel over mobile phones
Africa: m-commerce boosts travel
Africa is leading the world in m-commerce, with 489 million mobile phone users — and 7 million smart phone users — which is boosting demand for travel services. 60% of mobile web users in Africa use mobile phones to purchase goods. Mobile-phone money transfer service M-PESA in Kenya targeted unbanked Africans to book travel via phones. The upwardly mobile population means that Africa is leap-frogging earlier forms of media and taking travel to those who were traditionally excluded from it. WTM chairman Fiona Jeffery said: “The continent of Africa has tremendous potential for the global travel and tourism industry. With blue-chip corporations such as IBM and Vodafone involved in building a mobile commerce network, regional and global travel companies should be looking even more closely on what the region has to offer. Mobile payments systems are commercially and economically important for all sectors operating in the region, with travel and tourism ideally placed to take advantage.” In 2010, airlines such as Kenya Airways and Uganda Airlines joined M-PESA and Airtel Money to enable consumers without a bank account to buy air tickets.
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