How Egyptian-Based Travel Marketplace, Travelz Tech is Disrupting the Egyptian Tourism Sector
The tourism industry is difficult to define because, unlike other industries, there is no single product. It encompasses a wide range of industries, including lodging, transportation, attractions, and travel agencies. Tourism is defined broadly as when people travel and stay in places other than their usual environment for leisure, business, health, or other reasons for less than one year.
Before the 2020 global pandemic, travel and tourism accounted for one-fourth of all new jobs created globally, 10.3% of all jobs (333 million), and 10.3% of global GDP (US$9.6 trillion). Meanwhile, international visitor spending in 2019 totaled US$1.8 trillion (6.8% of total exports). However, the global tourism sector’s market size fell over the previous year in 2020, reaching $1.09 trillion. In 2021, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to global GDP was approximately $5.8 billion.
Furthermore, tourism is one of the most important sources of income for Egypt’s economy. At its peak in 2010, the sector employed approximately 12% of Egypt’s workforce, served approximately 14.7 million visitors, and generated nearly $12.5 billion in revenue, contributing more than 11% of GDP and 14.4% of foreign currency revenues. However, in the years preceding the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism was a significant contributor to economic growth and foreign exchange. With the opening of new flight routes and museums, as well as investment in antiquities, Egypt was expecting significant growth in tourism in 2020. Nonetheless, government investment in the sector and coordinated marketing campaigns aimed at increasing engagement laid the groundwork for a recovery. Indeed, as new source markets emerged in 2021 and early 2022, international arrivals began to accelerate.
A Chat with Travelz Tech’s CEO
This is evident in Travelz Tech, the newest entrant into the Egyptian tourism market. Travelz Tech, founded in May 2022 by Mohamed Gamal, is an engaging, fast-growing, and empowering travel platform, that is designed to assist travelers with safe and enjoyable experiences, as well as supporting them as they explore Egypt. It claims to be the world’s first platform that allows travelers to create, customize, and edit itineraries based on their interests.
The travel platform is developing Egypt’s first in-region travel marketplace, allowing travelers to book instant tours throughout Egypt and providing customers with access to the Travelz Tech network to encourage those who identify to explore the world fearlessly with live assistance, topic, and virtual assistance. Travezl Tech is also a 24/7 active network that encourages those who identify to explore the world fearlessly. It’s a life-changing community where travelers can regularly request online help, city live roadside assistance, book instant tours to all of Egypt and find up-to-date resources, plan trips, connect in topic-specific subgroups, and meet other like-minded souls who simply love all things travel.
In an exclusive interview with Theouut, Mohamed Gamal, founder, and CEO of Travelz Tech described the startup as an online marketplace for Egyptian travelers. Currently focused on Egypt, but plans to expand throughout Africa. “Our goal is to encourage people to travel and discover new communities while doing so.” Although Travelz Tech is not a travel agency, it acts as a bridge between travelers and their destinations by providing flexible itinerary options. On the Travelz Tech platform, you can also book a ride as well as your accommodation, and share live experiences about various tourist locations, such as the pyramid that they may have visited.”
Apart from providing safety and support to the travel community while exploring Egypt’s various historical tourist sites, “Travelz Tech’s unique offering is the introduction of a hassle-free and contactless platform for a seamless travel experience.” For example, if you are planning to visit Egypt for the first time and do not have any friends or family here, you do not need to worry because Travelz Tech offers a full itinerary service, including ride booking, hotel booking, and tourist guild. “We also provide free travel advice to visitors who wish to visit Egypt,” the CEO explained.
When asked how the response has been since the launch in May of this year, Gamal noted, “The response has been very good, as reflected in our numbers.” We have hundreds of unique and repeat users, and we have assisted hundreds of tourists so far.” “Our target at this stage is growth, not necessarily sales,” he emphasizes. As a result, we are prioritizing market penetration. We have exceeded our KPI target in the last two months.”
Although people are still hesitant to travel following the pandemic, Travelz Tech hopes to change the tourism narrative in Africa by digitizing the sector and making it more accessible and appealing to tourists worldwide. According to the founder, the startup’s immediate plans include, “We plan to expand first in Africa.” It is currently difficult and stressful for people to visit Africa. By next year, we will have developed new software to integrate and aggregate local guilds across Africa, making travel across the continent simple and seamless. The platform will also list the hotels across cities in these countries. The aim is to digitalize the travel experience with the introduction of travel guilds to help the customers to engage, socialize and enjoy the beauty of Africa. The software will be made available in the hotels and guest houses across Africa.”
Gamal also stated that the startup is open to funding to develop more technological solutions. “Yes, we do require funding to develop more technology.” Also, the majority of people use the mobile app, and we are nearing completion of our mobile app, which will be released soon.”