<div><em><strong>Manish Kumar Pathak</strong> reports on the value that the start-ups are adding to travel segment</em><br><br>The travel industry is undergoing a sea-change. The new age start-ups have popped up and are re-defining the concept of planning a travel, and in many ways the travel industry.</div><div> </div><div>The role of these travel start-ups, and their focus on specific areas like women-only travel sites or a student-focused hostel kind of hotel chains is very interesting, and the bearing they will have on this sector was the focal point of discussion during a session that took place at the E-tailing and Travel Commerce Conference 2015. </div><div> </div><div>The session was moderated by Anshul Srivastava, Head Sales & Marketing, Arzoo.com, and he observed that travelling is experiential process, and that unlike previously where travelling was a more a family oriented event, people are now very keen to travel in small groups and in many cases solo. Also, what value these start-ups are adding to this segment?</div><div> </div><div>Piya Bose, who is the founder of Girls on the Go Club, which is women-centric group, said that when she had started her journey she was very sceptical of the idea, but in these eight years the tremendous response that she has received has changed her perception completely. She said, “These 7-8 years have been a complete revelation, and now women are themselves coming out and challenging me to give them opportunities to travel. They have the means, and travelling is not just a voyage for them but they see it is as means of empowerment. The very feeling of having organised their own tickets or dealing in foreign exchange seems to thrill them, and they want to challenge their own limits. The trend is huge, and it is only on the increase.”</div><div> </div><div>Speaking on the issue of bag-packers, and how the trends are changing in India, where earlier travelling was a more planned affair, Akhil Malik, Co-Founder, Zostel observed that when he started experimenting with this concept, they were not entirely sure of the results. However, the response that they received was tremendous and that financially also the model was a viable one. Malik opined, “Earlier majority of our customers (bag-packers), were foreigners (90 per cent), but in the last two-years, there has been a shift of around 65 per cent foreigners and 35 per cent Indians. So, there is a change, and youngsters who are young corporates, or just outgoing youngsters, whose idea of travelling is not staying in a hotel, but to go out and witness the landscapes, taste the cuisines, talk to other travellers and just enjoy their stay in a very different way.”</div><div> </div><div>On the issue of value-addition provided to the travellers, Gautam Shewakramani, Founder & CEO, AudioCompass said that they come in when there is a need to replicate the presence of a physical guidance. “We virtually hold your hands and show you around. The problem that people face from our area, is that once you leave the hotel, you do not know which place to go, what to see. Here we step in, as we provide high quality content to the people and safe information about places. Since, many people travel because of site-seeing, we come in and give them this information.”</div><div> </div><div>Ish Jindal, Co-founder, Padhaaro, said that his company provides assistance during the period when people actually travel. “People want to visit local places, taste local-cuisines etc., and we then step in. We allocate personal local guides who provide assistance to them.”</div><div> </div><div>Chitra Gurnani, Co-founder, Thrillophilia Adventure Tours, says that often when people arrive at a destination they seldom have any plans on what to do next, and this because they are not aware of the things they can do at that place. “We are that bridging gap, and we believe travelling is no more just site-seeing, but more activity based. Hence we have introduced an app called near & far which will empower the people to acquire information about the interesting things to do at a particular place.”</div><div> </div><div>Speaking on the role of typical travel agents, Akhil Malik observed that they have to innovate to stay relevant. Piya Bose claimed that the future is bright only when travel agents become more of an ally rather than a middleman.</div><div> </div><div> </div>
