Talk Chart app ready to take tourism to next level

THE Tourism industry is open to partnerships with local companies whose products can be used in facilitating business in the sector.

Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) president Mr Wengayi Nhau said with reference to a new communication and microfinance application, Talk Chart developed by a local company as the first ever Zimbabwean produced application.

Prevail International Group of Companies developed Talk Chart in January this year, with the aim of introducing it to the local and international economy as a communication platform and online transaction platform for payments.

The company is targeting the tourism industry and is in Victoria Falls introducing the application at the Econet Victoria Falls Marathon which has attracted more than 4 500 runners from across the world including tourism Zimbabwe’s major source markets.

Talk Chat has been piloted locally and in UK, UAE, Middle East and Philippines.

Talk Chart brand ambassador Ms Tariro Gezi said the application will be a game changer for the tourism industry.

At the present moment there is no local payment platform for use by the local tourism industry, unlike in other countries that have their own.

“We are here as Talk Chart because we are passionate about the tourism of Zimbabwe. It is a destination that brings a lot of countries especially right now as the Econet Victoria falls Marathon is bringing people from national, regional and international.

“We are taking Talk Chart to the world taking advantage of this event and we want the whole world to see that something good is coming out of Zimbabwe and that is Talk Chart is the number one messaging and transacting app from Zimbabwe,” said Ms Gezi.

She said as a payment platform, Talk Chart is secure and reliable as a payment method and store of value.

“We will benefit in many ways because we will be able to transact, and probably if we align with the correct brands people can be able to book flights because it has a micro finance system which will make payments easier for everyone.

“You know when people are travelling and you want your money to be secure so Talk Chart will act as that platform to secure your money while travelling,” she added.

Commenting about the application, TBCZ president Mr Wengayi Nhau said the application will be helpful if the developers link it to financial institutions to make it compatible with tourism players’ operations.

“In Zimbabwe we have banks which are traditional modes of payments through master cards and Ecocash which is ideally for locals. When we have an application that can be used by the industry that’s good and the key thing is that the application should be able to communicate with banks and accept funds and service providers.

“Currently we don’t have a local platform so they must be able to link with the banks so we can pay by master card and Visa and operators can sign up. The application should be able to link up with all service providers so they give people direction, advice and make it easy to book through the application,” he said.

Mr Nhau advised the developers of the application to work with the tourism regulator and make sure that the product is compatible with the industry.

-@ncubeleon