Award-winning online travel agency Travelstart Egypt is celebrating its fifth year of business in Egypt.

Rated by global travel and tourism technology provider Amadeus as one of the top 10 travel agencies in Egypt, Travelstart has launched a number of new services and benefits for its customers, in addition to allowing customers to search, compare and book the best travel deals available online. Unlike other travel agencies, Travelstart also offers travellers the convenience of online booking, supported by a team of expert travel consultants operating seven days a week.

“We’re proud to be celebrating Travelstart’s fifth anniversary in Egypt,” said Ahmed Saad, country manager of Travelstart Egypt. “Travelstart Egypt has enjoyed incredible success over the past five years and has continually raised service standards throughout that time, introducing new features, services and partnerships for the benefit of our customers. We’re also grateful to Amadeus, National Bank of Egypt and our airline partners for supporting us in our efforts to ‘raise the bar’ for travel service standards in Egypt.”

Despite the challenges faced by Egypt’s tourism industry during the past five years, Travelstart Egypt has enjoyed strong growth and continued to invest in new services since its launch in early 2013. Travelstart Egypt now offers customers a choice of Arabic or English portals and empowers travel consultants to sell affordable flights via its Travelstart neXt platform. The company is currently in the process of a major update to its Arabic portal.

While Travelstart Egypt currently offers travellers the option to pay for flight bookings with credit card installments via National Bank of Egypt, plans are in progress to allow customers to pay in installments via other banks too. Travelstart has also added the option to input frequent flyer membership numbers when booking a flight on their platform, to ensure travellers don’t miss out on the chance to earn air miles.

Improvements have also been added to Travelstart Egypt’s Flapp app, allowing travellers to use a +/- three day calendar functionality on international flights to find the best prices on and around their ideal travel dates and schedule. Flapp users can also now book online and pay offline if they wish.

“Travelstart launched in Egypt with a strategy to target progressive travellers looking for convenient online services to simplify their travel bookings. Through our ongoing investment in technology, new services and user experiences, Travelstart Egypt has been able to drive strong growth while exciting and delighting its customer base,” said Saad.

Travelstart Egypt, a subsidiary of Travelstart.co.za, provides modern travellers with a service that meets their needs: a robust, integrated platform that comes with the tools and interface to make researching, planning, and booking travel easy.

The Travelstart platform is increasingly recognised as the industry standard. Customers looking for flights, hotels or car rentals can seamlessly compare rates of a wide range of carriers and providers. Travelstart Egypt also makes payment simple by offering six convenient payment options: cash on delivery, credit or debit card, pay via installment, direct deposits at accepted Egyptian banks, or cash payments delivered to Travelstart’s Maadi office. - TradeArabia News Service