Co-founder Murat Kahraman states that they provide access to over 2.3 million hotels and more than 400 airlines, saying, “With our visa, tour, transfer, and car rental services, we serve as a reliable solution partner for the travel industry.”
Musa ALİOĞLU (Istanbul)
With the widespread adoption of digital technology, the division of labour in the tourism sector one of the leading industries driving Turkey’s development has taken on a new shape. Companies with a wholesaler status have been established to serve hundreds of travel agencies. We delved into the details of BookingAgora.com, the largest of these platforms, and spoke with the company’s co-founder, Murat Kahraman.
Mr Murat, we’d like to get to know BookingAgora.com and yourselves. When and how was it founded, and who are your partners?
We launched BookingAgora as five founding entrepreneurs, each with experience in various aspects of tourism. Despite being a young and new-generation brand, our roots trace back to the founding families’ 500-year industrial heritage and the first steps taken in the tourism sector during Turkey’s international expansion in the late 1980s.
At the beginning of the 2000s, seeing the world evolving, we sought ways to drive technological transformation in our industry. In 2013, we established our software company KPLus to develop portals for tourism companies. Empowered by KPLus, we developed new ideas to take digital transformation to a different level, and in 2016, founding partners Aziz CİGA, Mahmut CİGA, Kadri CİGA, Murat KAHRAMAN, and Sezgin KARA came together to launch the BookingAgora project.
While the pandemic caused significant losses globally and domestically, it also drove BookingAgora’s rise, helping the platform prove itself and establish trust within the industry. Over nine years, we transformed BookingAgora into a global travel technology company, effectively serving the global travel market.
Our success is underpinned by our unwavering commitment to ethical values and business ethics. We value knowledge, education, and experience. We protect our roots and the values inherited from them, striving to ensure the next generation embraces these same principles. We never lose sight of that compass. Our vision is to create a global standard in the tourism sector by implementing our principles of commercial ethics and high-quality service worldwide.
What need gave rise to BookingAgora, and what exactly does it do?
BookingAgora was established with the idea of becoming a global travel supplier and marketplace for travel agencies. Travel agencies need a reliable travel partner to provide the best service to their customers. This is precisely the need we identified. Our brand, with the best technical infrastructure in the sector, facilitates agencies’ operations by offering both pre- and post-sales support. By prioritising reliability, quality, and commercial ethics, and backed by a robust financial structure, we deliver the best travel experience to agencies, maximising customer satisfaction.
How do you collaborate with travel agencies?
Travel agencies register on our platform and receive a user panel. Authorised users can handle all their planning through our platform on behalf of their agency. They can access travel products such as flights, hotels, tour packages, airport transfers, and car rentals via our enhanced technical infrastructure.
What services do you offer agencies? In essence, do you act as a bridge between airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and agencies?
Yes, we act as a bridge between agencies and travel products. We provide access to airline tickets, hotels, visa services, car rentals, tour packages, and airport transfers. Agencies can easily connect to our extensive global network, make secure purchases, and manage their bookings. They can arrange flights, hotels, and car rentals in one go. With dynamic packaging, they can customise products to create unique packages for their agency. We also offer instantly confirmed products, adding practicality and convenience for agencies. Our technical infrastructure is the best in the sector, and we provide advanced reporting and analytics tools to help agencies operate more efficiently.
Would it be accurate to call you a wholesaler for travel agencies?
Yes, we could be described as a global and reliable travel wholesaler that simplifies travel agencies’ operations. We work with numerous domestic and international suppliers.
How many companies in Turkey offer the same services as BookingAgora.com? Where do you stand in the rankings? Or how many agencies do you work with?
While various firms provide B2B services, our values, technological strength, and extensive global network make us a leading travel brand preferred by agencies. We have representatives in eight countries worldwide. As a key player in the global travel market, we serve over 5,000 agencies and more than 7,000 users across 47 countries.
Can you access all airlines, hotels, and supporting businesses worldwide? What are the numbers?
We provide access to over 2.3 million hotels and more than 400 airlines. With our visa, tour, transfer, and car rental services, we serve as a reliable solution partner for the travel industry.
Is there anything I forgot to ask that you would like to add?
I’d like to emphasise our strength in travel technologies once again. We turn our experience and knowledge into tangible services through our next-generation, technology-based business model. Using advanced algorithms in our workflows, we make life easier for travel agencies and minimise human errors. To take swift action and provide operational solutions, we apply the latest techniques and methods in software, hardware, and artificial intelligence. While leading the market in our field, we aim to drive even more innovation in travel technologies and strengthen our position in the global market. Most importantly, we only serve travel agencies, never compromising our ethical values.
