TIGO-PESA DEAL WITH JOVAGO GIVES TANZANIAN TRAVELLERS AN ADDED E-PAYMENT OPTION
(Posted 08th February 2015)
Jovago.com, Africa’s leading booking portal, has joined hands with Tigo Pesa of Tanzania to widen the net for making bookings on the net and pay for travel and hospitality services through secure means.
The company announced the deal two days ago when they signed up Tigo, arguably Tanzania’s leading Telecommunication Company. As part of this partnership, Tigo Pesa customers will now be able to pay for their accommodation booked on Jovago with their Tigo Pesa account. This comes at a time when integration of e- or m-payments on online booking websites is seen as a crucial aspect in bolstering in the e-tourism industry. This is the 2nd integration of a mobile payment service provider on the booking platform. The partnership allows users of the Jovago.com booking platform more online convenience and speed in the booking process.
‘Africa is definitely moving on to the digital world, as part of this move we want to take in consideration the local market demands and habits, thus structure our strategies in response to the needs’ said Jovago.com’s Managing Director Ms. Estelle Verdier.
Tigo Pesa is East Africa’s first cross-border money transfer with currency conversion and a mobile app for the same. It’s evident that across Eastern Africa are developments being fast tracked, often way ahead of countries in Europe, America or Asia, in the use and penetration of mobile payment technology.
Commenting on the integration of Tigo Pesa with Jovago.com die the Tigo Head of Mobile Financial Services Mr. Ruan Swanepoel say: ‘We are delighted to join hands with Jovago to give the customers of our two companies the convenience of paying for their hotel accommodation from the convenience of their mobile phones. This partnership is in line with our strategy to promote digital lifestyle among our customers’.
Verdier then added that in addition to the convenient payment methods Jovago.com currently offers the largest inventory of hotels in Africa and negotiates hotel rates on behalf of the customer to ensure customers find their ideal accommodation at the Best Price.
In a related development is it worth to note that during the last auarter of 2014, Tanzania registered a 2.6% growth in mobile penetration, a notable rise from the previously recorded growth of 2.0%. Tanzania now has a total of around 28 million mobile phone subscribers, representing a mobile penetration of 63 percent.
This is not the first time both companies have been involved in a common project. Jovago.com and Tigo Pesa are both supporters of UNICEF’s Passport to Life, an initiative that seeks to have every African child obtain official birth registration. When booking on Jovago customers are given the opportunity to support birth registration (5$ per booking donated to UNICEF) at no extra cost. This initiative was reported here in breaking news when UNICEF and Jovago.com inked their partnership.
