You haven't become a rock star of the stage? However, there is a chance to become a star of new technologies, which are improving every year in different areas and, in particular, in tourism. On October 15, the final of the largest competition in Russia and Eastern Europe was held in Moscow as part of the GoTech Arena forum IT startups in one breath. On one platform gathered 200 investors and 658 startups from 22 countries that create, develop and implement new technologies.
The organizer of the largest competition of technology companies in Russia and Eastern Europe is the consulting company GoTech Innovation. The GoTech Arena forum was held under the motto Founders Define Future. The event included panel discussions of experts, workshops and 10-minute meetings with interested participants from the world of business and technology.
Representatives from the tourism industry presented their projects to potential investors. Most agreed that package tours are a thing of the past.
“Interest in package tours is declining, and today travelers demand a radically new approach to organizing their vacation. Thomas Cook came up with the package tour format, but even having created a giant company and leader in the industry, it was unable to adapt to changing demand, the trend towards digitalization of the industry and the request for a personalized offer. Today, the number of services that offer personalized travel services online is steadily growing. We present just one of such services. We note the growing demand of travelers for tours in small groups based on interests, which can be safely and easily found and paid for online. These can be expeditions, wine and gastronomic tours, fitness and yoga tours, yacht trips. Travelers appreciate the opportunity to go to new places with a group of people with similar interests, get an interesting program and at the same time reduce costs. This format has been known for a long time all over the world, but in Russia it is just emerging,” Olga Bortnikova, CEO of the YouTravel.me marketplace for author's tours.
The event featured experts, including NGINX Inc co-founder Maxim Konovalov, Readdle Marketing Vice President Denis Zhadanov, Terra VC Managing Partner Petr Lukyanov, the Untitled Ventures Managing Partner Konstantin Sinyushin, and many others. The main question on the agenda for tourism companies was "What kind of tourism will there be in the future and is it worth investing in?"
"There are many locations in our country that are underinvested and have great tourism potential. Because of their service, they do not attract a sufficient audience. Natural resources are our main wealth. If we establish infrastructure in these locations, as in other developed countries, then there will be hundreds of times more tourists, and, accordingly, more profit," says Terra VC Managing Partner Petr Lukyanov.
In the SKL Tech nomination, BeTrip received a cash prize of 150,000 rubles and the opportunity to become a resident of the SKL Tech business incubator and attract investments. The "smart" navigator for tourists builds routes based on the analysis of geodata from social networks. The audience is independent travelers, there is no talk of package tours again.
"Within 3-4 years, there will be a huge number of independent travelers who package themselves and travel will become personalized. Surely, someone will appear who will close the entire chain: from the decision stage (where a person should fly) to buying tickets, hotels, renting a car, supporting the trip and sharing their impressions. The future belongs to such companies," - Vladislav Tkachuk, CEO of BeTrip.
Three startups won the Arena Pitch nomination: Exomys from Austria, which specializes in developing passive exoskeletons for industrial applications, the Russian-British company Cybertonika, which is developing a platform that uses AI/ML for monitoring, and TraceAir, which is developing a technology for creating a 3D digital model of a site using unmanned aerial vehicles.
GoTech Innovation has been providing corporations with services for selecting and working with technology startups since 2009. Key competencies: startups and technology search, acceleration and tracking of innovative technology companies, creation and implementation of corporate programs and events for working with startups on a turnkey basis.
Source: trn-news.ru