HARARE - Leading travel management company, Traverze Travel (Traverze) scooped the best travel agent award for a record ninth consecutive time at a glittering awards ceremony hosted by Travelport on Friday.
This comes as another feather in the cap of the Harare-based premier travel agent which has also been named as one of the top 10 agents by South African Airways and was the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority’s (ZTA) first runner-up for the best travel agent among other accolades.
Speaking to the Daily News after receiving the top honour, Traverze’s founder, managing director Zodwa Mkandla said she was elated and attributed this to her hard-working team.
“We really feel honoured to be taking this award since 2006. We will continue working hard because it pays off,” said Mkandla.
She added that there had already spread their operations to Botswana while plans are underway to spread their tentacles to Zambia in March and take on Mozambique and Malawi later on.
“We are looking forward to going into other countries within the Sadc region. Business is very slow these days as many people are not travelling maybe because of the economic situation we are going through,” said Mkandla.
The first runner up for the best travel agent was HRG Rennies Travel while the second runner up was won by Genesis Travel and Tours.
Travel House, Wings Travel Bureau, Zimbabwe International Travel and Tours, Helios Travel, Galaxy Travel Bereau, Tour Africa Travel and Shanyayi Travel made the top 10.
Caroline Chekeche of Traverze got the top award as the best consultant followed by her workmate Chenai Mukarakate while Tanzila Leeya of Wings Travel Bereau settled for second runner up.
Addressing delegates at the awards ceremony, Travelport’s regional director for sub-Saharan Africa Martin Herbert said his organisation believed in Zimbabwean travel agents and Africa in general thus they would continuously invest in capacity building.
“Despite various challenges, Africa will continue to be a priority for Travelport for investment and growth. In 10 years time, Africa will have a larger workforce than China and this presents a tremendous business opportunity,” he said.
Travelport has already increased its footprints across the continent from 22 countries five years ago to 49 countries as of last year.
“We have rolled out significantly more new products and solutions to the African markets. No longer is Africa the last place to receive innovative solutions — in some instances it is now the first,” said Herbert.
Travelport is a leading distribution services and e-commerce provider for the global travel industry.
The organisation powers the travel industry on a global scale by connecting buyers and sellers through agency, online and corporate travel channels.
With a presence in over 170 countries, approximately 3 500 employees and a 2012 net revenue of more than $2 billion, Travelport is comprised of the global distribution system (GDS) business, which includes the Worldspan and Galileo GDS platforms among others.