These innovative travel startups are optimizing the travel experience to make our vacations more enjoyable than ever!
The last two years have been extremely tough for globetrotters. With all the travel bans, it was nearly impossible for us to travel freely. As the world gradually recovers some semblance of normalcy, we can finally prepare for a vacation again.
While many travel companies collapsed during the pandemic, some travel startups have survived the hardship and are determined to redefine travel and hospitality in the post-Covid age. We have rounded up five successful travel startups. So, prepare your notebook because you may need to mark down their incredible ideas and use them for your next trip!
Nomad Stays
Finding a place to stay for a few weeks or months while traveling and building a career as a digital nomad (someone who works online at different locations instead of a fixed office) can be difficult and expensive. Most accommodation options, including hotels, motels or even Airbnbs, only cater for short stays of a few days or, at most, weeks. Plus, most rental accommodations often involve complex contracts and strict move-in/move-out arrangements.
Nomad Stays, however, solved this problem for digital nomads worldwide. Founded in 2019 in the United States, this niche travel platform provides a one-stop listing and instant booking service for properties in over 62 countries worldwide, such as Greece and Argentina. If you happen to be one of the remote workers who like to travel around the world while keeping your main job, you can now find and book your next stay easily and affordably with Nomad Stays.
Airalo
Buying a local SIM card once you touch down in a new country can be irritating, especially if you buy one at a busy airport. What’s worse, mobile network providers often charge different extra fees (administration fee, handling fee… the list goes on) before applying for their data plans.
Airalo, the world’s first eSIM store, is here to make travelers’ lives easier. Airalo offers eSIMs, which are embedded SIM cards providing a smarter and more convenient way to stay connected, for over 190 countries and regions at the most affordable price. This allows smartphone users to buy temporary mobile data plans when traveling abroad with simple clicks. Airalo’s mobile data plans are separate from users’ standard mobile data plans and run on a local network, so users won’t have to worry about mixing up the two plans.
Eatwith
When you’re traveling to a new country, food isn’t just about filling your stomach, but it also symbolizes part of the local culture. Tasting cuisines with locals offers an excellent opportunity for travelers to interact with the local community and make themselves one with the culture.
Founded in 2012 in the United States, Eatwith is the world’s largest community for authentic culinary experiences with locals. With Eatwith, you no longer have to fear eating alone in a foreign country or worry about picking the wrong restaurant. The platform pairs up people who are seeking similar unique experiences with hand-selected local hosts in private homes and exclusive venues. With Eatwith, users can sign up to join a dinner party in an elegant Paris bistro, enjoy a hearty feast with an Italian family or take a dumpling-making class in Hong Kong.
Tiqets
One problem people often encounter on their travels is the incessant queuing up for tourist attractions. When traveling abroad, chances are tourists will have to wait for hours to enter top venues and struggle with getting a ticket to popular attractions.
In 2014, four Dutch entrepreneurs developed Tiqets, an app that allows users to instantly buy last-minute tickets for museums and tourist attractions across the globe. This app spares tourists from queuing for hours while risking their chance of immersing themselves in cultural infrastructures only because they fail to buy a ticket.
Welcome
If you don’t like joining a tour group because you enjoy traveling solo, but you aren’t confident with itinerary planning, the Welcome app may be what you need. Established in 2019, Welcome is a smart travel planner app powered by a location-aware artificial intelligence (AI) that creates real-time itineraries and travel recommendations based on users’ interests.
Besides personal interest, the app also pulls in local data, such as weather, time of day, popularity and holidays, to make smart suggestions for your trip. “If we were going to send you to a park in the afternoon, and at lunch it starts raining, we can replace it with a museum,” said the CEO of Welcome Matthew Rosenberg. Its powerful algorithm also prioritizes local businesses that capture the unique culture and spirit of a city, street or neighborhood, ensuring you an eventful journey.
The above travel startups have crafted a new narrative for the tourism industry and made life easier for jet-setters. More and more countries are now lifting travel restrictions, and if you are planning to go on a trip soon, check out these startups to see what they can offer! Happy travels!
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Header image courtesy of Freepik
