Most Kenyan travellers prefer paying cash to book hotels, survey shows

About 52 per cent of Kenyans making hotel bookings prefer to pay cash.

This is despite the booming mobile money economy, a travel survey has established.

The 2017 Hospitality Report by Jumia launched Thursday says mobile money payments only accounted for 32 per cent of bookings, with card payment taking a 15 per cent share.

The report, covering a number of African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal, is done in collaboration with French multinational hotel group Accor Hotels and Ethiopian Airlines.

Hospitality trends

The survey aims to highlight hospitality trends in the continent.

It notes that 59 per cent of locals prefer to book hotels on computers while 37 per cent and 4 per cent use mobile phones and tablets respectively.

Globally, out of the 143.8 million hotel reservations made, smartphone accounts for 65 per cent.

Mobile penetration in Kenya currently stands at more than 80 per cent while internet connectivity is 69 per cent.

“In Africa there is a very young population and below the age of 35 years. They are fast adapters of technology, a huge population already has access to mobile phones.

"In Kenya 30 per cent of the population have smartphones and this is a huge potential for e-commerce,” Jumia Travel Eastern and Southern Africa Managing Director Estelle Verdier said.

The survey also found out that a majority of local travellers (44 per cent) went online to research about their destination a week to their travel date.