Global Travel reservations provider Travelport (NYSE: TVPT), has integrated Safaricom’s M-Pesa into its systems to simplify travel payments, book clients’ trips, hotel accommodation, hire transport and use M-Pesa to pay.
The integration empowers more than 800 travel agencies.
“We are pleased that the travel industry is set to benefit from increased efficiency and ease of doing business, reducing the time and effort it takes to make bookings and reservations,” said Michael Joseph, Chief Executive Officer, Safaricom.
By fully automating booking and ticketing, M-Pesa eradicates the previous need for agents to manually reconcile customer reservations on the Travelport platform.
“Our commerce platform aims to offer the ultimate travel experience for today’s connected digital age. Having M-Pesa as a payment choice enables our travel agents to effectively tailor their products to meet the demands of the modern traveller,” said Nita Nagi, Regional Manager, Travelport.
Some of the travel agencies in Kenya that have integrated their systems with Travelport include Carlson Wagonlit Travel Kenya, FCm Travel Solutions Kenya, Incentive Travel, Acharya Travel, and Travel N’ Style.
Safaricom’s deal with Travelport marks the second such in the last three months. In May, Safaricom partnered with BuuPass to enable online booking and payment for bus ticketing through M-PESA.
