In a second contribution today does Lillian Gaitho look at booking trends and what tools people use when browsing the web before making an informed decision.
Online Hotel Booking Trends in East Africa
Jovago.com, Africa’s Number One Hotel Booking website recently conducted a survey on how hotels were booked in East Africa.
African constitutes 15 % of the world population, it is indicated that around 10 % of this percentage are indeed internet users. There are approximately 297 million internet users in Africa and this reflects the fast rate of adaptability of Africans given the fact that the use of PCs and mobile phones started in the mid ’90s. This survey shows the development of e-commerce in the tourism sector and the adaptability of East Africans as new internet-aided services such as online bookings are facilitated by services like Jovago.com.
Most Used/Preferred Device
Apparently the usage of the good-old Personal Computers registers as the most popular device used when online bookings are carried out. In spite of the influx of smart-phones – Android and Apple devices, the personal computer ranks highest with smart-phone following closely behind and the digital tablet taking the third most popular position. In this section, the medal goes to the very trusty PC – be it a Mac, Dell, Samsung, HP – we clearly use our computers more than any other devices! However, this may not be long-lasting because the rate at which smartphones are being circulated is increasing very fast, they are predicted to be utilized more frequently than the PC in the coming years!
Most Popular Browsers
Survey shows that Google Chrome is a clear favorite for a whopping 42% of the population of East African internet users. It is closely followed by Firefox at 35%. Safari comes up in third place with 11% while the good-old Explorer ranks fourth with a user percentage of 9% and the least used browser is Opera with a 3%.
Desired Platforms for Online Customer Service
In many cases when customers need more information concerning a booking or faced with an obstacle, the need to contact customer service arises and in this situation we find that most of the East African customers find the LiveChat pop-up and Whatsapp most handy to contact a customer service agent in comparison to the other social messaging platforms like Skype, Viber and BBM.
East Africa’s Biggest Online Players
Of the 11 online players in East Africa, Kenya is crowned the winner with approximately 21.2 million internet users. Close behind Kenya is Tanzania with 7.5 million users. Uganda comes in third with 6.5 million users, Rwanda and Burundi rank 4th and 5th with 1.1 million and 0.4 million approximately.
This survey is based on all the travelers who have booked through Jovago.com in 2014.
