Online travel booking platform Voyazed was launched in Zambia with the aim of simplifying the way people book things like hotels, flights and safari packages.

travel went live in October and allows users to book hotels, charter flights, car rentals, activities, cruises, conference rooms and safaris and tour packages via the Internet or telephone agents.

The startup has signed agreements with hotels and other companies that offer travel and tourism services to sell their services on the website, with customers able to search by category, book and pay for the desired services.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder, Tiza Shanzi, told Disrupt Africa that the startup – which has already received 8,000 visitors – grew out of her own experiences finding accommodation while traveling around Zambia.

“I always kept hoping to find a local person or taxi driver who would direct me to a hotel or lodge within my budget. When I tried to search for a lodge online, I couldn’t find anything suitable and affordable,” she said.

“The taxi drivers didn’t have much information either and only took me to one or two locally popular places, but unfortunately those places were still not in my budget. The whole process was too much for me and I usually ended up paying that much in a taxi due to the hours of driving around looking for a place to sleep.

She said Voyazed had spotted a gap in the market between potential tourists and tourism service businesses, with the startup aiming to be the bridge between the two.

“Most tourist services in Zambia and Africa as a whole are still closed. Potential customers do not know them. The traditional way of doing things is gradually disappearing,” Shanzi said.

“Voyazed brings these services online and makes the booking process easier for travellers. We expand the choice for customers and at the same time expose the best that Africa has to offer in travel and tourism for the world to see and visit.

Although she said there is major multinational competition, Shanzi said Voyazed is the first local startup in the field of online booking platforms.

“Other than that, there are many local travel agents and tour operators that we are not competing with but rather complementary as we partner with them and put their service offerings on our platform so they can be exposed to a global audience,” she said. said.

“As for the greats, we appreciate that they came before us and gained a lot of ground across the world. For us to be better, we just learn from them and stay true to our goals of opening up Africa to a wider world of e-commerce and also setting a standard for how we do things in Africa with a touch of innovation.