Posted by Sade Williams
Touch down Travels, a Travel Management Company (TMC), is taking travel beyond the confines of travellers, just getting on the plane and arriving at their destinations, to another level as it has introduced Virtual Reality into the travel sector in Nigeria.
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated 3D environment that enables users to explore and interact with a virtual surrounding in a way that approximates reality, as it is perceived through the users’ senses.
Chief Operating Officer of Touchdown Travels, Olufunso Ekundayo, while speaking on Tuesday during the launch of Lekki Experience Centre, said this is a game changer in travel management and for the sector as a whole.
The Lekki Experience Centre is different from the other branches of the company where tickets can be bought, bookings and other travel packages can be gotten. It is equipped with VR technology where passengers can experience their preferred locations and destinations before travelling.
According to him, ”Today, we are launching first of its kind Travel Experience Centre, it’s not just a branch, not just a location, it is a full experience centre, what we are doing is end-to-end all your needs as regards travel, your flight status, airport pick-ups, everything and what we are offering here is a full trip. During the trip or on the day of your trip, everything that is required is taken care of. And here, we are also leveraging on Technology, this is something which is new, part of what we will be doing here is give people the opportunity to experience the locations even without travelling there through our Virtual Reality tools. You want to make a trip to the Maldives for instance, imagine if you have the opportunity to experience the beautiful locations without moving, the idea is it helps us to get people get convinced to travel and experience it before they travel. Also, imagine couples travelling for honeymoon experiencing hotel rooms or malls before they travel, that’s leveraging on technology. We look at that as a game changer in what we are doing.
”Apart from that, there are other things that have been compressed into travel, doing your check in, and all those things that would have been hassles for you at the airport, we can actually do it all, you get the best rates that are available, you get the best advice about visa eligibility, while at the same time, you also have premium service at best affordable rates. Touch Down Travels has been there for 30 years, we have been doing this for 29 years, we have a strong niche in corporate travel, what we are trying to do with this Travel Experience Centre is to extend the same quality experience in corporate travel to every individual. Yes, corporate travel is good, you have seamless travel, when you are travelling with someone else, we are saying we are also here, therefore, you are having top-notch service with great, affordable prices. We want to help people see travel the way it truly is. It’s not just about picking up your bag and then flying, no, it’s about what the culture of the people is and the things to do, professionals are here to help people out with their travels. For instance, Dubai is not just about shopping, there are so many things you can do. We offer a lot of packages, it’s not just coming to sit in the plane, the experience matters, we create the experience based on what your needs are, we pay attention to details.”, he said.
Ekundayo noted further that the experience comes with no extra cost, adding, ”It’s a value added service and we are going the extra mile to do this. One of the thigs that we also do is we try to solve the problem of finance, we partner with Eazy Pay and other financial institutions, travellers could pay in installments, they can book your cheap fares and lock them down and pay in instalments. At Touch Down, we understand that. We ask ourselves, Can everybody afford to travel?, no, but we strongly believe that everybody deserves to travel. And there are two major problems, first of all, availability of deals inventory and the second one is financial capacity, we try to solve those two problems. The first one we are looking at is having the best deals available from our airlines, the second one is we partner with these financial companies to be able to provide solutions to our customers and take advantage of our service while they pay in instalments, we are tying to make life easy, we just want to help people travel and live their lives to the fullest, we want to help people run out of their passport pages.
”Like I said, travel is what the culture of the people is, if you travel and you don’t have the key things in your package, you didn’t meet people and you didn’t experience the culture, you have not travelled. What we want to do is that we want to give you authentic local experiences of the locations you are going to. We want to build memories for people, expand their horizons, and empower them, like I said, everybody deserves to travel. And by making available inventory of good deals and by our partnerships with FinTechs and while also allowing you to visualise the experience through technology, through our VR tools, we are ready to take you anywhere you want to go, for us, its totally about the customer.”, he added.
The travel management expert explained that Touchdown Travels, established 30 years ago by Mr. Dayo Adeola, has been delivering values over the years, adding that the company plans to deliver the same top-notch value that the corporate sector enjoys to individuals.
”We are looking at setting up two more locations before the end of the year, we are financially strong and capable, we are passionate about travel, we just want to get close to our customers and deliver value to them.”, he said.
Speaking at the event, Olumide Olaleye, Key account manager, United Airlines praised the management of Touchdown Travels for coming up with such idea of VR in the travel sector, noting that it is a bigger step further in passenger experience.
Jamile Ebifemi, corporate account manager for Air France-KLM, also described the Experience centre as an amazing one, adding that Touchdown Travels is known for offering top notch service to customers.
