It took the African Tourism Board, together with its independent US-based African Tourism Marketing Corporation, seven years to announce plans that would change how travel and tourism within Africa could be managed and how new bookings could be generated, customers retained, and new niches opened for travel businesses to Africa from Europe or North America.

The U.S. and Germany-based African Tourism Board Marketing Corporation has teamed up with Germany-based TravelNetSoft to enhance access for African companies and destinations, enabling them to generate business, coordinate activities, manage accounting, and process bookings, reports Eturbonews.com.

This is part of the joint project with the Eswatini-based African Tourism Board. This newly developed ATB-branded system will enable all stakeholders to interact directly with their clients, whether in trade or as consumers, and own their data for future follow-up, which is a distinct advantage compared to current systems, such as Expedia.

It will enable travel businesses of all sizes, including tour companies, hotels, attractions, taxi companies, ferries, and airlines in Africa, to establish a direct connection with consumers, travel agencies, and other booking engines worldwide, without incurring expensive commissions to third parties.

This service is designed to generate business, handle inventory, and accounting, and most of it is free for trusted members of the African Tourism Board, its customers, and providers.

In a joint statement on this new development, ATB Executive Chairman, Cuthbert Ncube, and ATB Marketing Corporation CEO, Juergen Steinmetz noted, ‘‘a new day for Africa’s travel and tourism industry has been launched with this partnership. It’s the first time Africa has its own interactive booking and travel management system affordable for companies of any size.

‘‘It is ideal for an independent tour guide, a small safari lodge, a multinational hotel company, or an airline, ferry, or bus company. With this new partnership, companies of any size can now bring Africa together and compete on the global market.’’

TravelNetSoft is the leading travel technology solution tailored for the entire travel industry. Based on a versatile business model and developed since 2005 in Germany, the system can be customised to fit the unique needs of any travel business participant.