Hotel booking site opens Swahili website

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Jovago.com, an African hotel booking site, has launched the Swahili language version of its website. The move is in alignment of the company's objective in creating online convenience through easy and faster bookings. The adoption of the region's lingua franca on the platform will offer over a hundred million Swahili speaking people with a user-friendly process.

The popularity of Swahili as a second language continues to increase supported by factors such as incorporation of the subject in school systems, media influence, regional commerce as well as growing numbers in immigration and overseas travel.

Cyrus Onyiego, country manager for Jovago-Kenya says, "The inclusion of local languages on the website actively supports a multicultural community in the region, while reinforcing the company's efforts in meeting the customer's needs. Breaking language barriers is key in promoting both business and leisure in travel across the continent."

Jovago.com was originally created in English and French, with a demand for a more inclusive and accessible interface leading to the addition of three major Nigerian languages (Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba) thus granting a significant fraction of Africa's most populous nation all-round access to the Jovago platform. These available translations are supported by the provision of customer support in local languages.

With the Swahili option now made available on the website, Africans native to Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda amongst others can have access to Jovago services in their local languages. In this bid to expand the reach on Africa and boost customer relations, plans are being made to include the Amharic language which is a major language of Africa's 2nd most populous country - Ethiopia.