Blessed with beaches, cultural sites, and abundant wildlife, prior to the pandemic, Africa had the second-fastest growing tourism sector in the world. In fact, tourism represented about 8.5 percent of Africa’s GDP and employed around 24 million people. 

After the pandemic hit, the industry suffered immensely. As a payment provider for top players in the hospitality industry, we saw, firsthand, impact on the industry. Fast forward to now, and things are beginning to look up. The vaccines are being distributed with great speed and people are returning to the beautiful sites that once made them happy. 

As a business in the hospitality industry, you want to partner with the best payment provider that is better positioned to grow your business post-lockdown. Here’s how to pick the best:  

International Payments 

Majority of travellers across Africa are international travelers. Figo in Lisbon who wants to see some beautiful sites in Kenya via your tourism business would need a seamless international payment to facilitate his movement. Christian in Philadelphia looking to visit South Africa and see the Tshukudu Game reserve, Limpopo via your business will need to pay online and seamlessly too. You see where we’re going with this? You need a payment provider that will cater to your local and international customers simultaneously.

Watch how we help Jetseta customers meet their travel needs by providing seamless international payment solutions that expand their customer base. 

“The last time we had a rapatration flight, we had customers in Ukraine and other Scandinavian countries. So, how do you collate those payments? Flutterwave was there to lift the weight off our shoulders.”

A Payment Provider that Supports Your Business Digitally 

There’s been a massive shift in consumer behavior across the board. Hospitality businesses who often saw digital payments as an option are discovering how crucial this could be in their business, going forward. When most countries went into lockdown, it became clear that businesses who had not planned how to receive and make payments online would suffer. It’s even more crucial in the hospitality industry because most of the time, you have to receive payments online for trips and bookings earlier than the date. Post lockdown, people would be less inclined to carry raw cash about and businesses who fully integrate a digital payments partner will enjoy the benefits. Hope that’s you and your business!

Watch how Wakanow is trying to make Travel more affordable for customers and how Flutterwave is supporting their dreams by providing a seamless digital payment experience for their customers. 

Always go for a Secure Payment Platform

Integrating a payment provider is not the end of the road. You also have to review the security processes of your provider. You can do this in two ways – You first ask; “do my customers trust these providers?” and “Do I trust this payment provider?” It is not enough for you to trust a provider, the people making the payments should also be convinced that they are protected and will get a refund if they do not receive value for their payments. You should also seek out payment providers that are easily recognisable to avoid people dropping off from your payment page. 

For instance, Flutterwave guarantees that any payments made on our platform are 100% secure. We just partnered with Forter to further protect our customers from e-commerce fraud. Our platform’s security measures far exceed industry standards (ISO 27001 & 22301 certification and PA DSS & PCI DSS Compliance). In addition, our payments protection promise means that customers get value for every transaction they make on our platform. 

Watch full video here;

Affordable Payment Platform for you and your Customers

 As a business, you are looking for the best possible ways to boost your revenue and profit. One of those ways is to reduce cost to the barest minimum. So, any cost to you or to your customer that seems above market rate should be rechecked. The best combination should always be a secure payment platform with above industry standards, an affordable transaction cost and a recognisable brand to inspire consumer confidence. Once you find all three in one, you are good to go. 

Watch how we help Roundbob cater to the travel needs of their customers in Africa by providing efficient payments services at an affordable rate.

“People are weary of putting their card details online, but when they saw it was Flutterwave, it was a lot easier for them to trust us with their card details.”

Variety in Payment Methods 

No matter how secure and trustworthy a payment brand is, not everyone wants to make payments on them. And that is why future-minded and empathetic payment gateways are able to add multiple methods of payments. If Jane from Leicester wants to visit the Yankari game reserve and on your page, you’ve got a gateway where you can pay with Paypal, VISA or Mastercard, then Jane is happier than ever to use PayPal in the event she hates putting in her credit cards into various payment platforms. Assuming it’s Jacky in Nairobi that wants to visit Nigeria–you have to give her the super power to pay with M-Pesa. That’s how she keeps coming back to you!

Watch how we support Dana Air customers with their travel needs and choice payment methods! 

Recurring Billing 

It’s always beautiful when your customers do not need to keep coming back to your page to pay you, especially when you run a subscription-based model. You need a payment platform that will help you collect money from your customers as long as they approve. One more thing. When you integrate a payment platform with recurring billing abilities, it gives you the flexibility to move around your revenue model to what fits you the most. 

Watch Ejimonye Ofodum, CEO and Founder of Fichaya, speak how Flutterwave empowers them and their customers with recurring billing. 

“Flutterwave helps automate our payments and my customers do not need to input their details and make payments again after the first time.”

Mobile Payments

 Digital payments is aggressively trending mobile and you have to meet your customers where they are. Do you want to know the predicted payment volume for mobile payments? That’s a whooping $3.08bn by 2024. You should work with a payment partner with a mobile perspective to making and receiving payments. That way, it’s easier to customise solutions for you if your customers are trending more mobile, or you can easily integrate any of the mobile-led payment solutions. 

With Flutterwave, you can enjoy all of the above and more, as the world opens up and hospitality picks up. Get in touch with us here

Published by Nonso

Marketing Storytelling Lead