Budget airline Kulula.com aims to expand its online offering for the over 150 000 visitors the site attracts weekly.
This is according to Carl Scholtz, Kulula.com`s executive manager of IT, who says a revamp of the site and additional content and services are planned in light of the amount of targeted Web traffic the site attracts.
Accommodation and care hire are offered to users booking flights with the airline. Details of the additional services will be outlined later this year.
Online travel booking is showing significant growth and is already a major money-spinner in SA, probably generating more revenue than all other e-tail revenues combined, Scholtz notes. He estimates that flights booked online via the various South African airlines generate about R700 million a year.
"Twenty to 25% of all flight bookings made in SA are done online and 70% of Kulula.com`s business is conducted on the Internet," Scholtz says. These online transactions, he estimates, save between 10% and 15% on fares - and price is a major driver of e-commerce in SA. This is highlighted by the airline`s "Dirty Weekend" special that saw 25 000 tickets booked online in two days due to significantly discounted prices, says Scholtz.
South Africans don`t appear to be concerned about security issues when they shop online, he says. "I don`t see credit card fears as an inhibitor to e-commerce uptake locally."
Future travel
Kulula.com, along with SA`s other airlines, is constantly seeking ways to simplify its services and cut costs, says Scholtz. He sees IT as a facilitator for this, noting self-service options including airport kiosks and the ability to print boarding passes at home are likely to come into play soon.
"At the moment, we are using mobile technology for marketing and passenger alerts," he says, "but we could look into making more use of it."
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