The story of Trafiki Africa, as narrated by the innovator, Jeffrey-Takunda Murungweni.
How many times have you ever wanted to visit a new place as a tourist, and the process of just getting the information about that place is so scattered that you end up being discouraged to go? Information is a commodity that has been not so much kept in a convenient place, especially travel information for Zimbabwe.
Now the biggest thing that a tourist is after is captured in just one word: EXPERIENCE. Every tourist is after an experience that he or she would always remember vividly in their mind. And this is not just any experience; it culminates in a good feeling. That is exactly what anyone wants. Tourism is that industry that is out there to provide these experiences. Now if a tourist is having the exact opposite of a good experience, then obviously he or she won’t consider revisiting the place.
This challenge is one that we then looked at, and asked ourselves: How can we bring good experiences to the tourist visiting tourist destinations in Zimbabwe, and ultimately Africa as a whole? The solution we came up with is also captured in one word again: CONVENIENCE. If the tourist has little or no challenges in getting what they want, then they would want to visit the place more often because they are deriving a good feeling from the experience.
As we were thinking of ways of bringing greater convenience to the tourist, we looked for a solution that would make use of existing technologies that masses of people are already using, and which app would we use than WhatsApp? This is how the story of Trafiki Africa was birthed.
Trafiki Africa is a WhatsApp chatbot that is there to promote tourism within Africa by marketing tourist destinations and also providing booking services for key tourism services such as accommodation and recreational activities. Currently, the bot has been launched to promote tourist destinations within the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. Users can discover more of what the region has about its tourism value.
The Eastern Highlands was our first target because this is an area that has just so much to offer, yet hasn’t been marketed at a large scale. Within this region, there is Africa’s second highest waterfall and many other smaller waterfalls, Zimbabwe’s very own evergreen forest of indigenous forests, many historical settlement ruins, and also the country’s tea, coffee, and fruit plantations. Not to mention the botanical gardens that completely immerse you in nature.
This is the side of Zimbabwe that hasn’t been properly shown to people, and now Trafiki Africa is on a mission to change. Our vision is for the whole of Africa to become a well-marketed tourist destination, and we are starting to work towards that vision by marketing the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.
Trafiki Africa is a WhatsApp chatbot that is there to promote tourism within Africa by marketing tourist destinations and also providing booking services for key tourism services such as accommodation and recreational activities.
A user will be able to achieve this by interacting with the Trafiki bot on WhatsApp. It is simple to use and the navigation steps are laid out.
To start interacting with the bot, just follow this link: https://wa.me/263788935424?text=Hi. It’s that simple! Discover what Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands has to offer with Trafiki Africa. We are excited at the idea of offering convenience to tourists as they can get all the travel information they need as they plan to visit Zimbabwe. Soon, you will be able to book your accommodation via WhatsApp. How convenient would that be? The future of Africa’s tourism, fuelled by travel tech is exciting. Plan your next adventure with Trafiki Africa. Let the adventure begin!
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