Travelstart

Travelstart
Privately held company
Industry Travel
Internet
Founded 1999
Headquarters Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Key people
 Stephan Ekbergh (CEO)
Number of employees
 150+
Website www.travelstart.co.za

Travelstart is one of Africa’s largest [1] online travel booking websites offering flights, hotel bookings, car rental, vacation packages and other travel services through their online booking engine.[2] As of February 2016, Travelstart operates in Bahrain, Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Kuwait, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tanzania Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe.[3] It trades in some territories as Geziko.[4][5]

The website uses global distribution systems such as Amadeus IT Group and Travelfusion for flights, and CarTrawler for online car hire bookings. Most revenue is generated from Pay per click (PPC) advertising, as well as an extensive affiliate network. All Travelstart websites use Thawte to secure online payments.[6]

Travelstart was founded in Sweden in 1999 by Stephan Ekbergh. Before launching Travelstart, Ekbergh founded Sweden’s first online travel agency, Mr Jet (1995).[7] In 2010, Travelstart Nordic was sold to eTRAVELi and the company headquarters was moved to Cape Town, South Africa.[8][9] Travelstart operates in South Africa since 2006,[10] and emerging markets throughout Africa.[11] In 2012, Travelstart Nigeria was launched.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Leading online travel agency Travelstart continues its global expansion with Egypt operations", CNN iReport, 2013-06-19
  2. ↑ "A relatively unknown outfit is rapidly becoming one of the biggest web businesses in South Africa", ITWeb Brainstorm, 2010-01-07
  3. ↑ "About Us". travelstart.co.za. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Travelstart enters Turkey with Geziko brand", Arab Turkish Travel Gazette, 2012-11-23
  5. ↑ "Travelstart Tackles Turkey", Cape Business News, 2012-11-26
  6. ↑ "Verify SSL Web Server Wildcard Certificate"
  7. ↑ "Travel pioneer starts online roll-out in SA" , MyBroadband, 2006-08-30
  8. ↑ "eTRAVELi acquires competitor Travelstart in Europe", 2010-01-20
  9. ↑ "TravelStart sale to eTRAVELi triggers major Scandinavian power shift", Tnooz, 2010-01-21
  10. ↑ "A start-up with lots of potential", SouthAfrica.info, 2006-08-31
  11. ↑ "Expedia, Travelocity ready India operations", Livemint & The Wall Street Journal, 2007-10-17
  12. ↑ "Travelstart Travel Agency Launches in Nigeria". Retrieved 2015-07-09.
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