Page Seven/ La Paz
On Wednesday, in the city of Santa Cruz, Tropical Tours showed that it is in step with the times and presented the result of its digital transformation: estropical.com.
This transformation places estropical.com as a digital and technology company specializing in travel that pursues the goal that every day more Bolivians travel outside the country and return renewed to build a better country. He bases this expectation on the increase of more than 100% of Bolivian travelers abroad that occurred between 2013 and 2019, before the pandemic.
“If in 2013 we had 200 thousand people traveling abroad, in 2019 there were 430 thousand. Travel transforms us and the idea we have is that the more Bolivians travel, the better country we will have,” says Jerónimo Vaqueiro, CEO of estropical.com.
The executive comments how Bolivians have changed their profile from beach travelers to explorer travelers, which is why his company, he affirms, can now offer them tickets on 450 airlines and stays in 450,000 hotels around the world.
This is the conversation of the CEO of estropical.com with Initiatives of Page Seven.
Tropical Tours has listings for Bolivia
Yes. In the last hours we presented the new way of being of Tropical Tours that is summarized in estropical.com. Our company, which maintains its corporate name, has become a platform that offers trips on more than 450 airlines, with lodging in more than 450,000 hotels in Bolivia and around the world, with more than 200,000 entertainment activities. As a reference, before estropical.com in Bolivia only tickets were issued for 18 airlines.
In our presentation we had the visit of eight hotel chains. Hotel Xcared, Palace Resort, Hard Rock Hotels, Blue Diamond Resorts, Bahía Príncipe Hotels- Resorts, Palladium and Oasis were present, allowing us to start with a 30% discount on their services for this launch.
Does the company maintain its corporate name and offices?
We keep our company name because the change has to do with our digital transformation. We want estropical.com to be a friendly and close digital travel portal, which is why we have a heart as a logo and company image, which means that we place the customer at the center of everything we do. The intention is that our company has a digital gateway, because it is something that we cannot give up, it is the future and the travel industry is digitized, but how do we make this more personalized? The answer is that we maintain our offices and modernize them from the desks and implement large customer-facing screens, which allow travel design to be a pleasant and above all transparent experience.
How long did the transformation take?
We have been planning the change in the technological part for three years, but the transformation as such, with the brand, was carried out during the pandemic, when we began to reflect on this change.
What benefits does this transformation bring to the traveler?
estropical.com is an innovative model because instead of taking the concept of the shopping cart offered by e-commerce, it uses a timeline as a financing and reservation method that allows better management of the reservation system. Additionally, the estropical.com platform gives hotel scores, service validation, and thanks to the support and support of some Bolivian banks, it has the possibility of financing trips with credits in six installments, without interest.
Actually, the background and reason for this digital transformation is that we believe that we can change Bolivia and the world through travel. If we have more people who travel, we will definitely be a more tolerant country, with happier and more prosperous people.
We want travel to stop being a privilege and become a right for all, and this, regardless of how poetic it may sound, is perfectly valid, because none of the Bolivians who raised the name of the country achieved it without traveling. Neither the 1993 soccer team nor Marcelo Claure nor Azul Azul would have achieved what they achieved without traveling. I can’t imagine that there would be a Ventura Mall in Santa Cruz if its owner hadn’t been inspired by the Aventura Mall in Miami.
Imagine if we could take the 12 million Bolivians on trips? All at the same time on vacation for 15 days. How would we behave after that trip? What idea would we have of our future, of our family?
Do banks join?
Some banks are expected to finance trips with interest-free credits when customers pay with credit cards on the estropical.com portal.
Estropical.com announced the campaign Around the world, what does it consist of?
We like to listen to our clients and we hear that the dream of many is to go around the world, and we want to give them that possibility, which starts in Santa Cruz, goes through Miami, Madrid, Istanbul, Bangkok and Shanghai. We will take care of air tickets and accommodation,
To win this award we do not ask our clients for a purchase or a reference, simply enter the estropical.com portal, design the trip of your dreams and share it on social networks, including #estropical.com. This is automatically enabled to participate in the draw. Our clients have 30 days to do so and the activity is regulated by the Gaming Authority.
CV
- Profession Business administration and management in general graduated from the Bolivian Catholic University.
- Specialization Master of Business Administration, mention tourism
- Position CEO estropical.com
If in 2013 we had 200 thousand Bolivians traveling abroad, in 2019 that figure doubled and we reached around 430 thousand
The Bolivian traveler has changed in the last 10 years, from a beach traveler to an explorer of places and destinations
We know that the dream of many of our clients is to go around the world and we want to give them that possibility
