AFRICAN TRAVEL GIANT OPENS LONDON OFFICE
(Posted 24th March 2017)
Africa’s fastest-growing online travel agency, Wakanow, launched yesterday in London to serve the UK market.
The Online Travel Agency will provide a one-stop-shop for travel to Africa, offering a diverse range of competitively-priced flights and hotels for key destinations including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Seychelles, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Uganda, DRC, and Gambia.
As the only online travel agent selling Africa owned and run by Africans, Wakanow’s mission is to extend the African warm welcome to its customers and provide hassle-free travel to destinations across the continent. As an online and offline hybrid company with a growing number of offices throughout Africa they can offer customers on-the-ground support and arrange the complete journey process including airport transfers, guides, visa-processing and protocols.
The name, Wakanow, comes from the Nigerian pidgin English expression meaning ‘Go Now’. The word encapsulates the company’s mission to target and inspire the adventurous traveller, also reflected in the brand’s strapline, ‘Let’s Go’.
Sitting under the Wakanow umbrella is DestinationsAfrica – a specialist booking platform aggregating the best holiday packages (hotels, tours and transfers) to over 23 African destinations. The packages will cover key themes including romantic getaways, spiritual holidays, safaris and adventure.
Wakanow is the brainchild of Nigerians Obinna Ekezie – a former NBA professional basketball player – and Ralph Tamuno. Founded in Nigeria in 2008 Wakanow changed the face of travel in Africa by becoming the first travel agency to aggregate flights, hotels, visa procurement and packaged travel more under one platform. It has since gone on to be Africa’s fastest-growing travel company.
Following the brand’s rapid growth, it is now set on a speedy global expansion. The UK is its second such overseas market after already establishing offices in Dubai and the US. Further expansion is planned for 2017 in a further six countries including Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, Ivory coast and Tanzania.
Founder and Group Managing Director, Obinna Ekezie, said on the occasion of the launch: ‘We are delighted to be launching into the UK market, a decision which follows our insight that an increasing number of bookings on our Nigerian portal were coming from the UK. It is therefore a natural progression for Wakanow to extend into this market and we are delighted to be able to offer something different to UK customers when it comes to travelling to Africa. Through DestinationsAfrica we will leverage our vast knowledge of the African space and wealth of untapped destinations to create exclusive travel products that offer fresh experiences for our customers‘.
Further products to come will include the ‘pay small small’ instalment plan and the Wakanow Rewards loyalty programme.
For further information visit wakanow.co.uk
To view the DestinationsAfrica videos visit Wakanow’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/wakanowdotcom
