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30 Top Travel Startups to Watch in 2024

• Top Startups to Watch

Last Updated: May 10, 2024 By TRUiC Team

The travel industry was hard hit by the pandemic, with travel startups facing sharp declines in demand at pivotal stages of their business. The companies that are thriving today are those that have quickly adapted to meet the ever-evolving needs of travelers.

From work retreats to staycations, innovation is the name of the game. These top travel startups are promoting tourism by making it more convenient, more eco-friendly, and simply more fun. There are plenty of opportunities for any entrepreneur, particularly as the public gets their second wind to get back out there and start exploring.

Recommended: Learn how to launch your own company by reading our comprehensive guide on how to start a startup .

Best Travel Startups to Follow

Every year, new startups pull to the forefront of their industry through exciting innovation and industry-disrupting business models. We’ve rounded up the top travel startups of 2024 that startup lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow.

Disclaimer: With so many exciting travel companies launching and growing worldwide, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the startups that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.

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• Location: San Francisco, California
• Founder(s): Francis Davidson, Lucas Pellan, Martin Picard
• Founded In: 2014
• Funding: Post IPO-Equity, $839.6 Million
• Investors Include: Principal Global Investors, BlackRock, Moore Capital

Sonder taps into a growing demand for unique places to stay. The company has a number of luxury properties in popular destinations around the world. What makes the company even more special is that the staff has adapted services based on how people travel today. Travelers can check-in, request towels, and get recommendations on what to do — all from their phones.

2. TravelPerk

• Location: Barcelona, Spain
• Founder(s): Avi Meir, Javier Suarez, and Ron Levin
• Founded In: 2015
• Funding: Series D, $530.3 Million
• Investors Include:  SoftBank Vision Fund, Greyhound Capital, General Catalyst

TravelPerk is a travel platform that helps business travelers manage their travel and expenses as well as book business trips with ease. The platform suits businesses of all sizes and streamlines the process of finding, booking, and planning business travel.

• Location: Singapore
• Founder(s): Ahmet Bahadir Ozdemir
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Series A, $67.3 Million
• Investors Include: Plug and Play , GO Ventures, Rakuten Capital

Airalo is providing a more flexible phone alternative no matter what country you’re in. Their eSIM store is the first of its kind, offering affordable, local rates for eSIM compatible phones, tablets, or PC computers. Customers never have to worry about carrying several SIM cards, changing their phone number, or losing communication capabilities with Airalo eSIM cards.

4. Tripsider

• Founder(s): Olga Bortnikova, Ivan Bortnikov
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Seed, $1 Million
• Investors Include:  Liqvest, Mission Gate, Starta

Next on our list of top travel startups is Tripsider , an app that matches people with the right trip based on everything from their interests to their budget. The company compares the algorithm to that of a dating app, taking into account values, past experiences, and goals to match people with a travel expert via text or phone call. Experts have resources to help travelers officially confirm their bookings, removing one more thing for vacationers to worry about.

5. BabyQuip

• Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Founder(s): Fran Maier
• Founded In: 2016
• Funding: Seed, $10.7 Million
• Investors Include: Moai Capital, How Women Invest, SBI Investment

BabyQuip is a travel startup with a new take on the gig economy – providing a platform for baby gear rentals for traveling families. BabyQuip delivers all the necessary gear to wherever a family needs it – the airport, a hotel, or even the grandparents’ house. The company will tailor the equipment to each client’s needs, whether it’s a full-size crib, car seat, stroller, or anything else.

6. The Hotels Network

• Founder(s): Juanjo Rodriguez, Laura Martinez Celada, Marc Rollan Serrano
• Funding: Series B, $15.2 million
• Investors Include: Seaya Ventures, Elaia, 4Founders Capital, NFX

The Hotels Network is a platform that serves as a method of growth for hotels using technology to attract and convert online visitors to paying customers by creating a unique, personalized, and predictive user experience. Hotels can use the platform to compare reviews, pricing, analytics in order to create more impactful marketing campaigns.

• Location: London, United Kingdom
• Founder(s): Steve Domin, Tom Bates, Vincent Pastor
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Series B, $56.2 Million
• Investors Include: Index Ventures , Benchmark , Kima Ventures, Blossom Capital, et al.

Duffel is an online platform for travelers to find, book, and manage flights from a myriad of airlines. Working in tandem with airlines to provide a better customer experience, Duffel provides travelers with real-time pricing and availability to make booking a trip easier than ever.

• Location: Madrid, Spain
• Founder(s): Dennis Vilovic, Leonard Cremer
• Funding:  Series B, $11 Million
• Investors Include:  All Iron Ventures, Durable Capital Partners, Madrona Venture Group

Troop is a travel technology company that utilizes data to help corporations plan in-person meetings. Leveraging the power of science and technology, Troop makes planning in-person meetings for their Fortune 500 companies sustainable, safe, and secure.

9. roadsurfer

• Location: Munich, Germany
• Founder(s): Christoph Niemann, Markus Dickhardt, Susanne Dickhardt
• Funding: Series Unknown, $28.9 Million
• Investors Include : Lawrence Leuschner, Heartcore Capital, 10x Group, et al.

roadsurfer rents RV campers to outdoor lovers in Europe and America. The company stands for freedom and offers a number of perks to its customers, including unlimited mileage, a free second driver, road assistance, and flexible rebooking options. For anyone who dreams of getting away from it all and experiencing van life for a few months, this company is connecting people to the vehicles they need to hit the road.

10. Pickyourtrail

• Location: Chennai, India
• Founder(s): Hari Ganapathy, Srinath Shankar
• Funding: Venture, $3 Million
• Investors Include: Kumar Vembu, Vinay Ahuja, Girish Mathrubootham, Kunal Shah

Pickyourtrail is India’s largest online holiday booking platform for DIY travelers. People come here to customize their vacations by building unique itineraries from the ground up. The platform takes into account people’s interests, timelines, and budgets before crafting travel that will mesh with the individual’s tastes. The company also works with a number of tourism boards in popular locations, such as Iceland, Japan, and New Zealand, to create more streamlined experiences for all customers.

• Founder(s): Johannes Siebers, Michael Siebers, Rasmus Porsgaard
• Funding: Series E, $199.8 Million
• Investors Include: Venture Stars, Prime Ventures, EQT Ventures, et al.

Holidu is a website where vacationers can book accommodations at the lowest price. It was started by the founders after trying to find a place to stay in Portugal, only to find that many of the same properties were listed on different sites at different prices. Their platform makes it possible to search and book rental properties without having to worry if there was a better deal out there.

12. Whimstay

• Founder(s): Alexander Alioto, Ben Jamshahi, Kamesh Jasani, Noel Russell
• Funding: Seed, $10 Million
• Investors Include:  Talent Resource Ventures 

Whimstay is designed for last-minute travelers who want great deals. The app and website helps property owners and hosts match their unsold nights with travelers, so everyone can benefit from the search engine. The company is built on the premise that many of our favorite travel moments are entirely unplanned, and the platform boasts up to 60% savings off the original costs of rental properties.

13. Scenset

• Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Founder(s): Eli Bressert, Tamar van de Paal
• Funding: Seed, $5 Million
• Investors Include:  Cavalry Ventures, Project A Ventures

Next on our list of the best travel companies is Scenset . Most people take just under 3 weeks to book a trip, and while some people may love piecing it all together, most just want to just get it over with. Scenset personalizes your vacations with end-to-end planning with the help of travel curators. The team is there so travelers don’t have to skip from site to site, and these experts often deliver experiences that travelers would never have without their interference.

14. Boom Supersonic

• Location: Englewood, Colorado
• Founder(s): Blake Scholl, Joe Wilding, Joshua Krall
• Funding:  Series Unknown, $700 Million
• Investors Include:  Momentum Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, Caruso Ventures

Boom Supersonic is attempting to cut down on travel time by as much as half with supersonic jets. Travelers have the option of going from Tokyo to Seattle in as little as 4.5 hours (compared to 8.5 hours in a standard passenger plane). The company offers more than 500 transoceanic routes, allowing more people to test their boundaries and explore the world.

• Location:  Paris, France
• Founder(s): Aziza Chaouachi, Mario Moinet, Yassine Ben Romdhane
• Funding: Convertible Note, $22 Million
• Investors Include: Prime Ventures

Leavy allows people to live anywhere they’d like, if only for 24 hours or less. Though it was founded before the pandemic, the company is tapping into the idea of travel and affordability. The platform pairs customers with people willing to share their homes and pays cash to anyone who will open the door. While accommodation amenities vary, the barebones feature of Leavy is opening the door to people who might not have been able to afford travel otherwise.

• Location: Bucharest, Romania
• Founder(s): Alexandru Govoreanu
• Funding: Seed, $1.8 Million
• Investors Include: Early Game Ventures, Sparking Capital

Questo is a gaming app for travelers designed to help them explore cities and towns in an unusual way. So if an individual in London wanted to hunt down Jack the Ripper, they’re whisked away on an exciting quest, gathering clues in real time while learning about history at the same time. Games range depending on destination, so you can uncover the Midici conspiracy in Florence or discover the ghosts of Glasgow.

• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Founder(s): Naren Shaam
• Founded In: 2013
• Funding: Series E, $476 Million
• Investors Include: Lazard Asset Management, Stack Capital, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, et al.

Omio is a transportation app that gives travelers an easy way to travel long distances. It’s not designed for getting around a city but rather suggests nearby airports and train routes that would make it possible to cover serious ground at the drop of a hat. It helps travelers visualize the best routes to take based on everything from speed to price. Travelers can also access tickets on their phones for trains and planes, adding an extra layer of convenience.

18. Surf Air Mobility

• Location: Hawthorne, California
• Founder(s): Cory Cozzens, David Eyerly, Liam Fayed, Reed Farnsworth, Scott Craig Porter, Sudhin Shahani, Wade Eyerly
• Founded In: 2012
• Funding: Debt Financing, $563.7 Million
• Investors Include: IVP, Troy Capital, Sway Ventures, et al.

Surf Air Mobility is an environmentally friendly company that’s introducing the world to zero-emission flying with the help of electric vehicles. With more than 910 million tons of carbon on the line, the company is starting with existing aircraft. The staff replaces the standard engine with an electric version as a means to decarbonize the travel industry.

19. SafetyWing

• Location: Silicon Valley (Palo Alto, California)
• Founder(s): Hans Nyvold Kjellby, Lona Alia, Sarah Beyahte Sandnes, Sondre Rasch
• Funding: Series B, $47.1 Million
• Investors Include: Creandum, Alma Mundi Ventures, Kinnevik, et al. 

SafetyWing describes its products as insurance for nomads, by nomads. The company makes it possible for people outside their home country to get the medical help they need, including treatments needed for COVID-19, should they become ill or injured while abroad. People can even purchase insurance while they’re in a foreign country.

20. Wanderlog

• Founder(s): Harry Yu, Peter Xu
• Funding: Seed, $1.7 Million
• Investors Include: Y Combinator , Abstract Ventures, General Catalyst

Wanderlog is a free travel app that makes it possible for travelers to build and map their vacations. Designed for trips of all kinds, including the open road, it’s a way for people to keep all of their details organized so they know where they are, what they’re doing, and where they’re going at all times. Drive times, reviews, and reservations can all be tracked in one handy place, making it less likely that something will go wrong along the way.

• Founder(s): Oskar Bruening, Ruzwana Bashir
• Funding: Series C, $119.9 Million
• Investors Include : Eric Schmidt, 12 BF Global Ventures, Cathay Innovation, et al.

Peek helps tourism businesses book more people by offering handy software to take payments, market their services, and manage reviews. So far, the company has powered more than $1 billion in experiences (e.g., paddleboards, pottery classes, rafting, etc.). Their customers love the easy-to-use platform that makes it possible to both generate and track business.

• Location: New York, New York
• Founder(s): Anthony Menna, Greg Ramey, Mike Petrakis
• Funding:  Series A, $17 Million
• Investors Include:  Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Corazon Capital, Alumni Ventures

Batch  is designed specifically for bachelor or bachelorette parties. It helps the core planner track the details of the trip, so everyone can have a smooth experience. Trying to coordinate anything on a group trip like this can be an exercise in futility, but the app accounts for any number of scenarios, making it possible for people to have more fun before, during, and after the trip.

23. Sēkr

• Location: San Diego, California
• Founder(s): Breanne Acio, Jessica Shisler
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Seed, $3.1 million
• Investors Include: Crescent Ridge Partners Ventures, Storyteller Overland, Backstage Capital, et al

Sēkr is a mobile platform for outdoor lovers, making it easier, safer, and more communal to plan a trip and dig into the Great Outdoors. The company has more than 50,000 campsites included in its platform, making it the nation’s largest database of free campsites and local events. People can use it to learn more about what they can really expect at each site, and to connect to virtual friends with similar interests.

24. Point.me

• Founder(s): Adam Morvitz, Tiffany Funk
• Funding: Series A, $12 Million
• Investors Include:  Thayer Ventures, RiverPark Ventures, Plug and Play

Next up on our list of top travel startups is Point.me . With so many different types of airline miles and points out there, it can be difficult for travelers to keep track of all their rewards. As a result, they often end up losing out on their benefits, or cashing them in for a fraction of what they’re worth. Point.me scours the internet to find the absolute best deals for travelers who want to get the most from each and every point.

25. AvantStay

• Location:  Los Angeles, California
• Founder(s): Reuben Doetsch, Sean Breuner
• Funding: Private Equity, $686 Million
• Investors Include: Saluda Grade, Bullpen Capital, Capital One Ventures

AvantStay is a booking platform with unique properties that can be used for personal or commercial use alike. These are luxury rentals that feature unique amenities, including stunning interior design for groups. Excellent for family and company retreats or just a fun weekend trip between friends, AvantStay makes it possible for travelers to hammer down accommodation details and organize additional excursions as well (e.g., spa treatments, wine tastings, etc.).

26. Spotnana

• Founder(s): Sarosh Waghmar, Shikhar Agarwal
• Funding: Series B, $116 Million
• Investors Include:  ICONIQ Growth, Durable Capital Partners, Blank Ventures

Spotnana designs software to connect partners, suppliers, and providers, all in service of improving the booking experience for travelers. The idea is to unbundle travel, making it possible for travelers in the future to get anything they need without the hassle. The core values are freedom and trust, reintroducing choice to the traveler so they feel comfortable making any and all of their arrangements online.

27. Life House

• Founder(s): Rami Zeidan, Yury Yakubchyk
• Funding: Series C, $230 Million
• Investors Include: Tiger Global Management, Sound Ventures, Global Founders Capital

Life House is a vertically integrated operating system built for boutique hotels. It specifically supports three functions: hotel technology for operators, hotel management for owners, and hotel branding and positioning. With Life House's powerful software, boutique hotels gain a suite of tools that can help streamline processes and increase their profitability.

28. Kindred

• Founder(s): Tasneem Amina, Justine Palefsky
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Series A, $22.8 Million
• Investors Include: Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners

Kindred is a home-swap platform that connects travelers with other members to trade spaces or travel with credits they can earn by using the platform. With Kindred, hosts receive complimentary hosting essentials like towels, sheets, and lockboxes as well as free professional cleaning before and after guest stays. 

29. Hotelverse

• Location: Mallorca, Spain
• Founder(s): Rafael Bover, Fermin Carmona
• Funding: Seed, $3.92 Million
• Investors Include: Sabadell Venture Capital, Plug and Play

Hotelverse leverages technology to create an innovative booking experience for travelers. On the platform, users can explore hotel facilities, customize their room, do a flyover of their hotel, and book a room — all virtually using a realistic, 3D model. 

• Location: Vancouver, Canada  
• Founder(s): Connor J. Wilson 
• Founded In: 2020 
• Funding: Angel Investment, CA$1.1 Million

Pilot is a travel planning platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Using its free app, travelers can plan and collaborate with friends on trips by creating itineraries, planning routes, importing travel documents, and obtaining travel visas — all on one platform. Plus, the app works both online and offline thereby ensuring travelers can access important travel information at any time. 

Recommended:  Check out our full list of the  top startups to watch in 2024 !

What are travel startups?

Travel startups today are largely companies that lean on innovation to get noticed in a saturated landscape. Because we’re more reliant than ever on our devices, many of the companies on this list have tech that will drive tourism across the globe.

Whether by reducing carbon emissions, offering health insurance by phone, or making it easier to split costs, travel startups are tackling the small and big issues that stop travelers from fully committing to a trip.

What does the future of the travel industry look like?

The future of the tourism industry will be controlled by everything from global emissions to public health. However, based on the most popular startups today, one of the major trends is based on how people book their travel and how the details are managed. Travel is likely to become more customizable, more affordable, and less damaging to the environment.

What are some travel startup ideas?

Travel startup ideas are often born from personal experiences that people have with their own bookings. So maybe you have a difficult time scheduling a trip on a regular weekend. This leads to an idea that helps vacationers travel without having to take vacation time from work.

Or maybe you take your inspiration from global headlines. If gas prices rise drastically in your area, you can start an app that helps people take a staycation they’ll never forget.

How do you start a travel startup?

Beginning a travel startup will mean sketching out a business model with details about how you’ll monetize your idea and how much capital you’ll need to get started. You’ll need to know what kind of staff you’ll need, how much you can pay them, and what kind of collaboration will be needed to hit your milestones. From there, you’ll likely need to approach investors and secure funding.

About the Author

The TRUiC Team

TRUiC’s team of researchers, writers, and editors dedicate hours to ensure startupsavant.com’s articles are actionable and accessible for both startup founders and startup enthusiasts. From launching a startup to growing your venture, you can trust that our information is an up-to-date and reliable source.

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The travel industry was one of the hardest hit industries during the pandemic.

In 2023, global tourism recovered, jumping back to  84% of pre-pandemic levels . However, the industry as a whole isn't expected to recover until 2027 .

Despite that, some travel startups are still growing exponentially.

Check out this list of companies that are looking to revitalize the travel industry in 2024 and beyond.

1. TravelPerk

5-year search growth : 270%

Search growth status : Exploding

Year founded : 2015

Location : Barcelona, Spain

Funding : $530.3M (Series Unknown)

What they do : TravelPerk is a travel management platform designed to simplify business travel. It offers a centralized platform for booking, managing, and analyzing business travel, with features such as real-time booking, expense management, and travel policy enforcement. The company aims to reduce the time and cost associated with business travel while providing a seamless and enjoyable experience for travelers.

2. SafetyWing

5-year search growth : 1,550%

Year founded : 2017

Location : Palo Alto, California

Funding : $47.1M (Series B)

What they do : SafetyWing is an insurtech company that focuses on digital nomads. Their flagship "Nomad Insurance" is accepted across several different countries (ideal for travel). SafetyWing also offers a B2B "Remote Health" product that provides coverage for remote teams.

5-year search growth : 99x+

Year founded : 2019

Location : Singapore, Singapore

Funding : $67.3M (Series B)

What they do : Airalo is an alternative to using multiple SIM cards while traveling. Specifically, the company offers over 190 affordable "eSIMs" that can be switched over with a few clicks. eSIMs aren't supported by all smartphones. But are becoming an increasingly-common feature in newer models. The SIM company recently raised $60 million in their most recent series B funding found.

4. Roadsurfer

5-year search growth : 1,360%

Location : Bayern, Germany

Funding : $33.9M (Series Unknown)

What they do : Roadsurfer rents out customized camper vans in 13 countries in Europe. Besides the core rental service, the startup also offers a number of optional add-ons for each trip, like kitchen cutlery. Each plan also includes an insurance policy.

5. YouLi (YouLive to Travel)

5-year search growth : 41%

Search growth status : Peaked

Year founded : 2016

Location : Melbourne, Australia

Funding : $200K (Angel)

What they do : YouLi is an all-in-one travel management software for organizing group trips and company retreats. The software includes a number templates for different types of travel itineraries. The software also has a member's area that travelers can use to manage and pay for their trips.

6. PickYourTrail

5-year search growth : 188%

Search growth status : Regular

Year founded : 2014

Location : Chennai, India

Funding : $3M (Series Unknown)

What they do : PickYourTrail is a platform for booking entire trips online (including flight, road transportation and lodging). The startup reports that 46,000 people have used the service to date.

5-year search growth : 400%

Location : New York, NY

Funding : Undisclosed

What they do : Tracki is a travel tech startup that provides real-time GPS tracking solutions for individuals, families, and businesses. Their products range from portable GPS trackers to asset trackers and pet trackers, which can be easily monitored through their mobile app or web platform.

8. Very Local Trip

5-year search growth : 475%

What they do : Very Local Trip connects travelers with local tour guides. In other words, the startup is a focused version of Airbnb's "Experiences" feature.

5-year search growth : 4,900%

Year founded : 2018

Location : Madrid, Spain

Funding : $200.6K (Seed)

What they do : Holafly is an eSIM startup that offers international data plans for travelers. The company partners with local providers in different countries and offers unlimited data plans for a fixed time period. Currently, the startup operates in 160+ countries with 1 million customers worldwide. 

5-year search growth : 21%

Location : New York, New York

Funding : $181M (Series D)

What they do : Away is a DTC travel brand. Often called the “Warby Parker for suitcases,” the company keeps overhead costs low by selling direct-to-consumer. Away's product line includes sleep masks, travel pillows and compression socks.

5-year search growth : 231%

Location : Denver, Colorado

What they do : GOTRAX is an electric scooter company that provides affordable and eco-friendly transportation solutions for urban dwellers. With a range of electric scooters for adults and kids, GOTRAX offers a convenient and cost-effective way to navigate through busy city streets.

12. Lodgify

Year founded : 2012

Funding : $36.6M (Series B)

What they do : Lodgify develops software that help property owners manage their vacation rental properties. The all-in-one website includes features to manage bookings, accept reservations, and synchronize across different platforms, including Airbnb, Vrbo, and Expedia.

13. Bobobox

5-year search growth : 325%

Location : Badung, Indonesia

Funding : $13M (Series A)

What they do : Bobobox is a technology-based hospitality startup that provides affordable and accessible capsule hotels for travelers in Indonesia. The company utilizes an app-based platform that allows customers to book and manage their stays, as well as access various hotel amenities and services. Bobobox aims to revolutionize the hospitality industry in Indonesia by offering affordable and convenient lodging options that cater to the needs of modern travelers.

5-year search growth : 6%

Location : Bucharest, Romania

Funding : $1.8M (Seed)

What they do : Questo is a mobile app for iPhone and Android that gamifies city exploration. Users embark on "quests" in order discover interesting spots and learn about local lore. Each quest is designed by a local "creator". The app currently offers quests in over 100 cities.

15. Bespoke

5-year search growth : 39%

Location : Tokyo, Japan

Funding : $2.5M (Series B)

What they do : Bespoke has developed an AI-powered chatbot designed for multilingual guest services. Their software provides hotel guests with answers to hotel-specific questions, local recommendations, and restaurant reservations. Bespoke was used by the Japanese government during COVID-19 to communicate critical health and safety updates to residents and travelers.

16. Tailos (Formerly Maidbot)

5-year search growth : 340%

Location : Austin, Texas

Funding : $50K (Series B)

What they do : Tailos , formerly Maidbot, manufacturers a housekeeping robot (named Rosie) designed to clean hotels and commercial buildings. Rosie takes on "dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks", in order to reduce injuries to staff while increasing productivity and consistency.

17. TasteAtlas

5-year search growth : 375%

Location : Zagreb, Croatia

What they do : TasteAtlas is a food and travel startup that provides a comprehensive guide to traditional dishes, drinks, and ingredients from all over the world. The platform offers a database of authentic food recommendations and local restaurants to help travelers discover new cuisines and experiences. Additionally, TasteAtlas allows users to create their own food maps and share their culinary discoveries with others.

18. Roame Travel

5-year search growth : 2,300%

Search growth status : Exploding 

Year founded : 2023

Location : San Francisco, California

What they do : Roame is a free award travel search engine that finds available flights that qualify for credit card points and miles redemption. Currently, Roame provides search results for 16 airline loyalty programs and 200 airlines . Users can upgrade to a premium membership to access the SkyView feature, a search function that finds flights within a 90-day search window. 

That wraps up our list of travel startups growing despite the hardships of the pandemic.

The trend away from traditional hotels and towards short-term rental properties, RVs, and campsites accelerated this year as more people work remotely and seek a change of scenery.

There is also a notable shift towards AI and automation, as hotels seek to cut costs and increase efficiency.

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27 Travel Startups on the Rise Revolutionizing the Way We Explore

Imagine a world where the journey to your dream destination begins with a tap on your smartphone. Welcome to the era where  travel startups  are redefining wanderlust.

No longer confined to the daunting task of navigating through bulky guides or overpriced packages, the modern-day traveler demands smart, sustainable, and personalized experiences.

This article uncovers the engines powering this transformative wave. You’ll explore the intersection of technology and tourism, where  innovative platforms  cater to every nuance of your travel whims.

Delve into the  entrepreneurial spirit  that propels these ventures, the  investment landscapes  shaping their flight paths, and the pioneering services changing how we explore our world.

By the final full stop, you’ll have a compass pointing to the future of travel—think  digital nomad resources ,  eco-tourism apps , and  AI-driven itinerary tools .

So buckle up; we’re about to embark on a journey through the vibrant ecosystem of  travel startups  that promise to make your next getaway an adventure in innovation itself.

Travel Startups

Imagine you’ve got a bad case of wanderlust but are all tangled up in thoughts of what-ifs. SafetyWing swoops in to unclip those wings, offering insurance that’s meant to cover you globally, not just in your backyard. They’ve crafted a cozy safety net for digital nomads and remote workers that feels like a warm hug from a friend, so you can explore with one less worry.

What they stand out for:  They’re the ace up your sleeve for health and travel hiccups. From a twisted ankle in Timbuktu to needing a dentist in Denmark, they’ve got you covered. It’s health insurance that’s as portable as your passport!

So, Leavy’s like this super cool travel club for the young, the restless, and the travel-obsessed. Think of it as the Robin Hood of travel – helping you earn money even when you’re out exploring. While you’re off finding hidden gems in cobblestone streets, Leavy makes sure your pad isn’t just sitting there gathering dust.

What they stand out for:  Leavy’s got your back, turning your home into a hot commodity while you’re out globetrotting. They’ve flipped the script on travel funding, making every adventure a reality for cash-strapped dreamers.

Pilot’s not your average trip planner – it’s like having a personal travel guru sitting right in your pocket. It takes the puzzle that is trip planning and makes it child’s play, so all you gotta do is soak in the joy of anticipation. Family trips, solo adventures, or a weekend getaway with your squad, Pilot’s the co-pilot you need!

What they stand out for:  Their slick interface brings a sense of calm to travel prep chaos. Collaborate, build itineraries, and even share trip memories, all in one uber-cool app.

Surf Air Mobility

Ever dreamed of skipping the highway drama and taking to the skies? Surf Air Mobility’s making those dreams a reality, cutting down travel times and making private flying something more of us can shout about.

What they stand out for:  They’re all about sustainability, with an eye on electrified aircraft that promise cleaner skies. They’re not just shaking up the aviation game; they’re turning it on its head for the better.

Enter Spotnana, where the future of travel coordination is like a beautifully orchestrated symphony. For both companies and travelers, they’re removing the friction and replacing it with jet-fueled efficiency.

What they stand out for:  Their tech is a marvel, giving you transparency and control that traditional travel management often lacks. Simplified bookings, uncomplicated policies – they’re the ninjas of corporate travel, making business trips less “ugh” and more “ahh.”

TravelPerk is like the Swiss Army knife for company travel managers. They combine everything you need into this one sleek package, turning what used to be a migraine into a piece of cake.

What they stand out for:  Their platform is jam-packed with features – think sprawling travel inventory and ace 24/7 support. They’ve got their hands on the pulse of travel data, delivering insights that are just gold dust for any company’s bean counters.

When it comes to taking on climate change, Pachama’s in the ring, gloves up, protecting and restoring our leafy buddies – the trees. They’re merging tech with eco and making it super easy for businesses and individuals to contribute to forest conservation and carbon offsetting.

What they stand out for:  Their AI and satellite smarts are like a watchdog for the environment, ensuring tree projects are on the up and up. For travelers, it’s a chance to roam guilt-free, knowing they’re doing their bit for mother nature.

Turning group travel into a cakewalk, AvantStay hands you the keys to swanky digs that are perfect for that big crew adventure. They’re all about delivering experiences that feel exclusive, without having your bank account give you the silent treatment.

What they stand out for:  Their homes are like Instagram come to life – bespoke, snazzy, and brimming with vibes that scream “squad goals.” And with a concierge that caters to your every whim, it’s like VIP treatment rolled out carpet-style.

Behomm is where artsy folks find their tribe in the travel world. It’s a community that lets you swap your charming abode with someone’s equally enchanting space. No money changes hands; just keys, stories, and perhaps a love for mid-century coffee tables.

What they stand out for:  They’re a circle of trust for designers and creatives, making every trip a foray into stunning aesthetics and heartfelt hospitality. Think hand-picked homes with serious character and even more serious charm.

Ever landed in a new country, phone thirstier for data than you are for adventure? Holafly’s here to quench that thirst, slinging eSIM cards that hook you up with instant internet. Say adios to roaming charges and hola to sweet, sweet connectivity.

What they stand out for:  Their eSIM magic is like a welcome mat for your phone, anywhere you go. No more juggling SIM cards or chasing Wi-Fi – it’s data done right.

YouLi – YouLive to Travel

YouLi, short for “You Live to Travel,” takes travel customization and cranks it up to eleven. This nifty platform is a godsend for trip leaders, funneling all organization mayhem into a serene flow of planning bliss.

What they stand out for:  They’re the genie in your travel bottle, delivering personalized itineraries that respond to the tap of your finger. From managing moolah to wrangling wanderlusters, YouLi keeps group travel on point, sans the hair-pulling.

Organizing group travel can feel like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube blindfolded. It’s tough. But,  Troop  is here to lend a hand. Think of it as your trusty GPS for planning trips — it navigates the tricky bits for you, lining up flights, lodging, and finding the sweet spot for meet-ups. Troop is all about group harmony, making sure everyone lands on the same page, without the migraines.

What they stand out for:  It’s the synergy stuff they nail. Troop’s like that one friend who remembers everyone’s birthdays. They synergize locations, preferences, and budgets, so every member feels like the VIP.

Okay, picture this: a hotel that runs smoother than your favorite playlist. That’s the sort of rhythm  Mews  sets for hoteliers. It’s this powerhouse of a property management system that turns overbooked to overjoyed. Mews brings a new beat to the hospitality dance floor — streamlined, sleek, and ready to dazzle.

What they stand out for:  They’re the kings of clutter-cutting with their one-stop-shop dashboard. It lets hotel managers juggle reservations, guest experience, and payments as if they’re all just balls in the air.

Tripsider  recognizes your inner explorer. It’s all about oversharing, but in the best way. You get to peek into the travel diaries of other wanderers and scribble your own. It’s a global clipboard for your favorite spots, local secrets, and the coffee shop you stumbled upon in Rome that you can’t stop dreaming about.

What they stand out for:  Their charm is in the share. Tripsider’s a digital campfire where stories and tips are passed around like s’mores, making every journey a shared adventure.

Think of  Omio  as that friend who always knows a guy, except they know a train, plane, bus, or ferry to get you where you gotta go. It’s a platform that corrals all your travel options in one place. Smart, simple, and with just a few taps, you’re sorted with tickets that fit your plan and pocket.

What they stand out for:  They’re travel matchmakers, hooking up wanderers with the best routes. What’s not to love about scoring seamless connections and skipping the ticket queue?

Imagine tapping into The Sims, but for booking hotel rooms. That’s  Hotelverse . It’s all about customizing your hotel stay to the T — picking your room with 3D tech like you’re walking the halls. No surprises when you open that door; it’s exactly how you chose it.

What they stand out for:  They’ve turned room booking into a game where you’re winning every time. No more gambling on views or amenities — you’ve got the power right at your fingertips.

Fora Travel

So, you fancy yourself a bit of a travel advisor?  Fora Travel  is your back-stage pass to the show. Hop on, design epic trips and earn while you’re at it. They support your guru status, providing tools that help you turn dream vacations into reality — and get a slice of the pie too.

What they stand out for:  You’re more than a middle-person; you’re a memory-maker. Fora Travel gives you the reins to steer every escapade, from cozy hideaways to adrenaline-pumping excursions.

Picture landing in a new place and Bam! Your phone’s already a local. That’s the type of wizardry  Airalo  is all about. Their eSIM marketplace means instant data connectivity — no more hunting down sim cards or crying at roaming fees.

What they stand out for:  They’re basically data freedom fighters, saving you from the hassle of staying connected. It’s like having a universal key to unlock internet access almost anywhere you land.

Once known as  Maidbot ,  Tailos  is flipping the script on how hotel rooms get clean and cozy. It’s robots —yeah, you heard that right— taking on the dust and the dull, making housekeeping look like a sci-fi movie. No need to fear, Rosie the Robot isn’t coming for our jobs; she’s just keeping things spick and span.

What they stand out for:  It’s all about sparking joy with tech smarts. They take the robot out of humans, freeing up hands and time for the personal touches only people can give.

Ever wish for an oracle for your trips?  Bespoke ’s AI chatbots are kinda like that. They’re on standby to dish out deets on where to eat, play, and stay. With those chatbots, you’re texting your way to travel genius, like whispering to the local spirits for secrets on the fly.

What they stand out for:  They’re setting the bar high for travel info, quick-fire style. It’s like having a concierge in your pocket, minus the tip.

Throw all your travel plans in the blender, and  Wanderlog  pours out a trip smoothie that’s just  chef’s kiss . It’s an app that compiles your itineraries, reservations, and bucket lists in one spot, so you can enjoy the trip without tripping over the details.

What they stand out for:  They’ve mastered the art of trip flow. No more app-hopping or paper-chasing — you’re playing the greatest hits of your travel plans, all in one place.

For the wild-hearted living their best van life,  Sēkr  is the North Star. It’s a platform for mobile wanderers to find campsites and share the must-dos and please-don’ts of the road less traveled. Sēkr is basically your road atlas, survival guide, and travel buddy rolled into one.

What they stand out for:  They’re the glue of the van life community, connecting free spirits to spots that welcome them with open arms and probably an epic view.

In the land of snooze,  Bobobox  reigns as the pod hotel pioneer in Indonesia. It’s like stepping into a sci-fi sleep capsule, where small space packing a big punch. You get privacy, tech, and a taste of the future, wrapped up in an eco-friendly snooze-fest.

What they stand out for:  They carve out a personal zen zone, even amidst the city’s buzz. It’s a slumber party for one — high on style, low on your wallet.

Very Local Trip

When cookie-cutter tours just don’t cut it,  Very Local Trip  lets you break the mold. This nifty network hooks you up with local insiders eager to show off their stomping grounds. Think less tourist trap and more treasure map to the city’s heart.

What they stand out for:  They champion that authentic slice of life stuff. You’re not just observing; you’re participating, diving headfirst into what makes a place pulse.

Navan  is like that ultra-organized pal who plans trips with military precision. It’s a snazzy platform where corporate travel doesn’t mean yawn-inducing itineraries. Here, you’ve got freedom within bounds that keeps the suits happy and the travelers even happier.

What they stand out for:  They’ve got the balancing act down – duty of care meets self-care. Flexibility and support are their jam, making business trips feel less “all work and no play.”

Rack up points on  Kindred  and you’re not just scoring for yourself, you’re helping the planet. Swipe, shop, and watch as your loyalty points transform into support for your favorite causes. Kindred’s got your back for keeping your shopping savvy and socially conscious.

What they stand out for:  They’ve turned shopping into a feel-good adventure. Rack up rewards, get sweet deals, and keep your karma as clean as your new kicks.

Gotrax  is your ticket to glide through city streets, no gas pedal needed. They’re all about electric scooters that zip you around effortlessly. Whether you’re commuting or just cruising, they’re your trusty steed in this concrete jungle.

What they stand out for:  They’re acing that eco-friendly commute. Scoot past traffic, leave no carbon footprints, and have the wind as your high-five partner.

FAQ On Travel Startups

What drives the success of travel startups.

In essence, the  success  hinges on innovation, user engagement, and adaptability.  Startups in tourism  thrive by filling gaps left by traditional travel companies.

They leverage  technology  to enhance user experience, exemplifying  travel tech pitches  that resonate with the modern traveler—seamless, personalized, and often, with a touch of sustainability.

How do travel startups affect the traditional tourism industry?

They act as a catalyst for change.  Travel startups , with their digital-first approach, force established entities to modernize.

Incorporating elements like  AI in travel planning  and  personalized travel services , they add value that beckons even the stalwarts to innovate or collaborate.

What trends are shaping the future of travel startups?

The  trends  are clear—sustainable travel solutions, personalized experiences, and seamless use of  AI and technology .

A traveler’s desire for authentic and responsible journeys is matched by startups focused on  sustainable travel platforms  and  ecotourism .

The future also sees a rise in analytics and data-driven decision-making.

What are the biggest challenges facing travel startups?

Capital and competition are persistent hurdles.  Scaling  these startups demands not just a viable product but also a robust  customer acquisition strategy .

The challenge intensifies with the need to stay ahead in a sea of innovative  entrepreneurial travel ventures  that are continually emerging.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted travel startups?

The pandemic sparked a wildfire of uncertainty, yet it also fertilized innovation.  Travel startups  pivoted, offering flexible bookings and focusing on domestic escapades.

Newer  travel tech solutions  to ensure safety and accommodate remote work emerged, reflecting the resilience and adaptability of this  entrepreneurial sector .

What role do accelerators play in the development of travel startups?

Accelerators, like  Y Combinator , are the greenhouses fostering growth. They provide  mentorship ,  funding , and vital networks.

Being part of such a program can catapult a startup from a mere idea to a market contender, supported by a framework designed to navigate the  travel industry’s disruption .

How do travel startups contribute to local economies?

By promoting tourism, these startups funnel revenue directly into local communities. They often partner with  local services  and offer authentic experiences, which encourages sustainable economic growth.

This symbiotic relationship is a cornerstone of the  innovation in vacation planning  spurred by  travel startups .

What technologies are most influential for travel startups?

AI, big data, and mobile app development , without a doubt. AI refines personalization, while big data informs strategic decisions.

Then, there’s the pivotal role of travel apps  actively reshaping customer interaction—think instant bookings,  mobile travel alerts , and real-time recommendations on your handheld device.

How does venture capital influence travel startups?

Venture capital can be both the wind beneath wings and a force majeure. Investors scout for promising  startups in travel  and infuse them with essential  funding .

This capital accelerates growth, steers product development, and scales operations, directly impacting the  market research  in the  travel industry .

What is the future outlook for travel startups post-pandemic?

Post-pandemic, it’s an  open sky  for  travel startups . With the newfound emphasis on remote work and pent-up wanderlust, growth is on the horizon.

Travel tech solutions  that prioritize flexibility, safety, and unique experiences will lead the charge into this reimagined, vibrant future of global exploration.

Our excursion through the dynamic realm of  travel startups  culminates here, but the journey for the industry is just beginning. We’ve charted the evolution from mere  travel booking software  to  holistic experience platforms , witnessing a vibrant confluence of  entrepreneurial travel ventures  and  technology .

• The engines of innovation are propelling these ventures forward, with  AI ,  big data , and  sustainable travel  defining contours of the landscape ahead. Dreams and download speeds merge, crafting escapades that were once the stuff of science fiction.

True, hurdles loom—capital, competition, the lingering shadow of a pandemic. Yet,  travel startups  have shown a resilience as remarkable as the destinations they encourage us to explore. They’ve redefined not just how we journey, but why we journey—proving that with the right mix of  venture capital  and  market research , tomorrow’s travel will be safer, smarter, and more sustainable.

Boldly, then, we step into this future, where each startup is both atlas and compass, guiding a weary world back to the wonders of discovery.

If you liked this article about travel startups, you should check out this article about  IoT startups .

There are also similar articles discussing  mental health startups ,  medical devices startups ,  space startups , and  social media startups .

And let’s not forget about articles on  smart city startups ,  robotics startups ,  real estate startups , and  decacorn companies .

I'm the manager behind the Upcut Studio team. I've been involved in content marketing for quite a few years helping startups grow.

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50 🔥 Travel Startups

Here's our list of hot travel startups to watch in 2022.

👏 Thanks to over 3000 voters from 88 countries 🎉 Official results below — congrats to the Top 10 😅 See how close the competition was in this cool visual

🦄 The #1 upvoted startup wins 0.005 Bitcoin (~$250 USD) 👍 One voter (random) will win 0.001 Bitcoin (~$50 USD) 🚨 Voting has closed (December 19 at 23:59 UTC)

🦄 1. Tripsider (formerly YouTravel.me)

🏆 2. NaviSavi

🏅 4. yolovivo

🏅 5. Troupe

🏅 7. Floodin PRO

🏅 8. socialbnb

🏅 9. Ask A Local

🏅 10. SafeScore

Global Convoy

Eddy Travels AI Assistant

Nomad Stays

Travel Creators

GetAboutAble

Travel Kollekt

Map Your City

Room Steals

World Views

Local Purse

I like local

Guess Where Trips

The Work From Anywhere Team

Unearthed Retreats

Paradise Ride

What's The Plan

Yūgen Earthside

Trip.Social

Visit Dark Skies

Competition rules . If there is a draw, the prize will be split evenly between the winning startups. To be in the draw to win 0.001 BTC you must upvote at least one of the startups, and have a completed profile. The winners will be announced in the weekly newsletter and contacted via email. Good luck!

The 12 Travel Startups to Watch Out For In 2021

No one could have anticipated what 2020 had in store for us. When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, back in March, the travel and hospitality industries were among the sectors that were hit the hardest, having to navigate one of the worst crises in history. Several travel corporations and startups went through difficult layoffs in the weeks and months to follow - most notably Airbnb and TripActions. The industry as a whole quickly realized that this pandemic would have lasting effects and change the way we travel for the foreseeable future.

The good news is that there are signs of recovery as we near the end of 2020 and look ahead to 2021. On the startup front, Airbnb’s long-awaited IPO is sure to give travel industry partners a tailwind, proving that despite a global pandemic, “getting away” is not just a luxury, but has rather become a necessity for many. Adding to this, the growing concept of “working from anywhere” is changing how we think of accommodations - being more than just a place where we sleep and get away for the weekend.

Do you want to meet a curated selection of startups in travel? Get in touch with us

In the travel industry, 2020 has been a year where many companies have raised funds to "survive" the current pandemic - if they even had the ability to raise. The latest data from Crunchbase shows that both the number of funding rounds and the average dollar amounts raised by venture-backed travel startups have declined this year. Early-stage startups were the hardest hit with less fresh venture capital money going towards backing companies at this stage.

However, “in the midst of every crisis lies an opportunity,” and we, at Plug and Play, are firm believers that there will be many winners born out of the pandemic. We’ve listed out 12 travel startups below that are redefining the travel and hospitality space and that we think are worthwhile to keep an eye on in 2021 .

Purchasing international data plans when traveling can be frustrating. Buying a local SIM card can be a tedious process and carriers like AT&T tend to charge a huge fee to use data plans abroad. Airalo is here to change that, as the world’s first eSIM store. Almost all new smartphones are being offered with an eSIM, a SIM that’s already embedded inside the device. Airalo is an eSIM marketplace that smartphone users can use to buy temporary mobile data plans when traveling abroad. Airalo’s mobile data plans are completely separate from your standard mobile data plan and run on a local network.

“Contactless” has been the theme of 2020 and will continue to be for at least the first part of 2021. Ditto is a distributed database for cross-platform apps to sync even without an internet connection. With Ditto , your apps can sync directly with each other during outages, crashes, or in mobile not-spots. Since the pandemic hit, Ditto has seen a surge of interest from airlines.

Amenitiz is an all-in-one platform for the hospitality industry. This travel startup ’s solution centralizes all the tools that any hotelier would need to run its property into a single, easy-to-use platform: a PMS, a website builder with a fully-integrated booking engine, and a channel manager. The main value proposition is the platform’s convenience, allowing hotels to increase direct bookings, save costs, with a great UX. The company has more than 1,200 clients across Europe.

Meetings and events planning have become increasingly complicated. Troop aggregates thousands of data points, enabling corporate travel managers and meeting planners to select event destinations based on objective intelligence rather than just opinion. The platform of this travel startup optimizes destination selection based on cost, travel time, ease of travel, visa requirements, and carbon footprint, among other factors. Now, Troop is adding functions to surface safety and security information to address the risk side that becomes part of the equation.

Facial recognition and biometric identification technology could play a pivotal role in how “immunity” or “health passports” might work. One of the leaders in this space is Yoti , who allows consumers to take control of their digital identity by creating a reusable ID on their smartphone that can be shared multiple times with organizations on the Yoti platform. It is a GDPR/CCPA compliant solution, available in 6 languages and accepts passports and photos from 165 countries.

The Hotels Network

In today’s environment, hotel brands need to take innovative approaches in order to increase their direct bookings. The Hotels Network enables hoteliers around the world to increase direct bookings by using predictive personalization to offer each guest a unique user experience. The company has developed a predictive algorithm for hotels, capable of analyzing the visitor's interactions in real-time and predicting the action they intend to take on the website before they do so. This enables hotel owners and marketers to change the messaging on their websites in real-time, personalizing the experience for website users. The Hotels Network works with more than 5,000 hotels across 96 countries.

Smooss helps travel companies (especially airlines) to increase revenue and improve customer experience thanks to tailor-made solutions designed on top of reservation systems. This travel startup currently has two main products: an upselling platform and a disruption recovery solution. Smooss enables easy rebooking with its universal “Disruption Recovery” solution and enables a personalized revenue opportunity through its Smooss Ancillary Platform.

As more employees work remotely, companies are finding it difficult to recognize and reward them. Blueboard solves this problem, offering a rewards and recognition platform that is providing a curated experience that employers can bestow on their employees and top performers. Virtual cooking classes, skydiving, snorkeling, you name it, Blueboard’s concierge service is here to handle all of the logistics.

Port is another travel startup that will shape 2021 . Curious travelers want to experience and learn about different places in the world, however, there are many tour and travel experiences not within reach if you are unable to travel (for financial, time or physical reasons). Port enables travelers and working professionals to book on-demand remote guides around the world and receive live, interactive video calls to experience new destinations or attend events that they can't physically go to.

It’s safe to say that COVID-19 has changed the world of events with everything moving online. Hopin is an interactive web events company that allows hosts to create events where through video, quality connections can be made. Whether it’s a 50 person event or 50,000 person conference, you can customize your event to fit the requirements and even have attendees move in and out of rooms. It was recently announced that Hopin (founded just in 2019!) closed a $125M Series B at a $2.125B valuation.

Butler Hospitality

Butler takes over restaurants inside of hotels and transforms them into delivery hubs that provide virtual room service to nearby full, limited- and select-service hotels. Butler designs its own menu of elevated, accessible luxury food, prepares it in its own kitchens, and delivers it to hotels throughout New York City in under thirty minutes. By partnering directly with hotels, Butler delivers food directly to the hotel room and charges the guest’s credit card on file unlike other delivery services.

Calling air cargo demand “one of the few bright spots” in the global airline sector, IATA chief economist Brian Pearce said that requirements for air freight had been supported by the transport of medical equipment and essential supplies. We expect this to continue as unlike passenger demand, air freight requirements are following a fairly typical recession/recovery cycle. cargo.one is a digital platform for freight forwarders to search, compare and book air freight capacities across airlines. These airlines benefit from a fully digital and data-driven distribution channel, attracting new business at lower cost and higher operational efficiency.

In 2021, travel startups will not only play a large role in helping us adjust to the new normal and restore confidence in travel, but also challenge the fundamental ways of how we’ve thought about travel, which presents an exciting prospect - especially for early-stage investors. If 2020 was about surviving, we have our fingers crossed that 2021 will be about thriving.

Innovation in the travel industry is happening. Don’t be left behind.

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Five Challenges Keeping Travel Startup Leaders Up At Night

Amadeus + Skift

December 6th, 2017 at 10:36 AM EST

What keeps travel startup founders up at night? According to the results of our new travel startup survey, fledgling travel businesses face a variety of obstacles, including finding the right people, misunderstanding market dynamics, weak business models and challenges with data complexity.

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

Skift and Amadeus teamed to launch the Skift Survey: State of Travel Startups 2018. Check out all the results and view the full infographic here . 

View Results

Startups frequently come and go in any industry, and travel is no exception. Harvard Business Review estimates that 95 percent of startups don’t survive. The five percent of companies that are able to move beyond the nascent stages are the ones that somehow rise to the unique challenges of their industry. But what are those challenges? With this question in mind, Skift recently conducted a study on behalf of Amadeus, surveying 177 individuals who work at travel industry startups, asking respondents about “the most overlooked factors leading to failure.” The responses revolved around five core themes.

1. Issues Surrounding Founding Team and Leadership: Several respondents referenced issues linked directly to vulnerabilities in the founding team and leadership positions of their company. As one respondent explained, “Founders do not take it to next level. They lose interest over time.” Other issues had to do with “founder burnout” and “lack of operating culture and management skills.”

Even when salaries are attractive, hiring and retaining the best team possible can be difficult. One entrepreneur offered a deeper assessment of the importance of people in the startup equation for success: “From our perspective, perhaps the amount of human capital (skills, creative problem solving, etc.) needed for success exceeds what’s available in our location (as well as what we’re able to pay adequately for).”

Ultimately, a leader with a compelling vision for the company is necessary to get both management and staff in place at the right time. Without this, travel startups may find it nearly impossible to survive the road ahead.

2. Limited Travel Market Knowledge: Lack of industry and sector knowledge emerged as another leading obstacle for many survey respondents. As one respondent explained, “Due to the industry’s high cost of acquiring new customers, technology companies have made it easy to enter the market—but with poor travel knowledge, they won’t be able to continue in the business.” Many respondents reported that startups often don’t understand the complexities of the travel industry and the sales cycle. Another respondent admitted, “The sector is much more complicated than it appears.”

The tendency to pre-judge the structure of the travel market based on personal experiences may lead too many co-founders to dive in too soon. One respondent offered a candid, in-depth response: “Judgment based on high-level experiences is not sufficient to base a product or solution on. Owning property abroad gives one very little insight into what property management is about, or what the challenges and actual issues are that need to be addressed, just like me driving my car every day makes me no more a mechanic than anyone else.”

Popular sub-themes that fall into this “insufficient knowledge” were also related to challenges like a “lack of product fit” and marketing challenges could have likely been solved with a deeper understanding of the market. For example, one respondent was not prepared for the “difficulty of changing user behavior and teaching users new habits.” Another response acknowledged that “travel is a crowded space. Travel data is very complex, and so it’s hard to keep user experience simple.”

3. Weak Business Models: A brilliant idea is not enough to capture the market. According to the survey’s travel startup respondents, generating a profitable business model is trickier than it seems. One frequent challenge is customer acquisition costs. Many startup respondents noted that they must balance between pros and cons like a “higher lifetime value per user against acquisition costs per user.” Many respondents also explained that targeting the wrong consumers could be problematic, such as a decision to “focus on low-spending leisure travelers instead of high-spending business travelers.” Others spoke about the failure to solve a customer pain point, which would be necessary to sustain revenue.

4. Funding Challenges: Perhaps unsurprisingly, several respondents reported undercapitalization and running out of cash as other major issues. “You need time and money to fund the growth of a startup in its early years,” one respondent noted. Others spoke of the pressure to generate revenue for investors, which could divert a startup’s focus from product development.

Some felt their hands were tied to harsh realities, including, “Lack of funding resulting in not being able to hire the right resources for the right job, and losing focus on core objectives and working on short-term revenue generation to survive.”

5. Technology-Related Difficulties: Among the responses, technology did not weigh in as heavily as some of the previously mentioned issues. Startups struggling with technology issues can reach out to the developer community or may partner with other firms in creative ways. Nonetheless, a few respondents did describe “underestimating technology challenges” or challenges with data, such as battling to “keep user experience simple despite data complexity.” One respondent cautioned against “relying only on tech as the support for the startup to succeed.”

Check out the Amadeus for Startups infographic below to learn more about the biggest challenges to start up success.

This content was created collaboratively by Amadeus and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX .

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Tags: amadeus , startups

17 Travel & Tourism VC Investors Who Can Fund Your Startup in 2024

With a recovery in full swing within the travel and tourism industry, it’s time to get back to business to meet people’s wanderlust desires. Now that things are opening up again people are more excited than ever to travel and have experiences.

Julia Simpson, president and CEO of WTTC (The World Travel & Tourism Council) says “Our latest forecast shows the recovery significantly picking up this year as infection rates subside and travelers continue benefiting from the protection offered by the vaccine and boosters. As travel restrictions ease and consumer confidence returns, we expect a welcome release of pent-up travel and tourism demand.”

Businesses have managed to survive through innovative new marketing tactics which encouraged people to travel locally and pivots to accommodate limitations. This is how Airbnb managed to overcome the toughest times of the pandemic. Their marketing strategy encouraged people to get out of the house and explore areas around them.

According to TechCrunch “High-profile funding rounds also appear to be popping up across travel and hospitality’s various sub-sectors, including bookings, activity marketplaces, short-term rental, tourism and hotel platforms. And companies are continuing to pull in funding rounds in the hundreds of millions to billion-dollar range.”

The pandemic gave rise not only to a new way of traveling but also changed the way people want to travel and gave them new opportunities to do so. Investments in alternative accommodation startups and other businesses in this area have been on the rise and seems as though the trend will continue from 2021.

With remote work now being an option to the majority of people, we’re seeing new huge growth opportunities for coworking, coliving, and traveling. Companies like HiveGeist launched last year to offer travelers stylish modern accommodations and offer a place to meet and work with other digital nomads. PhocusWire reports “other significant rounds have gone into vacation home co-ownership startup Pacaso with $125 million and Outdoorsy with $120 million while luxury rental company Kocomo with $56 million, Holidu with $45 million and Getaway with $42 million, also benefited from excitement in the segment.”. Along with large investments going to alternative accommodation, hotel technology companies have also received considerable interest from VC’s.

Skift’s report on Venture Investment Trends in 2022, revealed that “travel startups raised $8.6 billion last year, a figure that’s 90 percent of 2019 levels and a 73 percent increase from 2020.” and we predict this will continue to be on the rise. As well CNN reported , “travel and tourism could generate $8.6 trillion globally this year, according to new research by the World Travel & Tourism Council. That’s just 6.4% below pre-pandemic levels.”

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council :

• U.S. domestic Travel & Tourism spending is forecast to reach more than $1.1 trillion for the year, surpassing pre-pandemic levels by 11.3%
• International traveler spending in the U.S. could see growth of $113 billion, compared to 2020, reaching nearly $155 billion, slightly below (14%) 2019 levels
• Employment in the sector could also surpass pre-pandemic levels, reaching nearly 16.8 million jobs, above pre-pandemic levels by almost 200,000 jobs

Journey Ventures

• Location : Israel
• About : Journey Ventures is a multi-stage VC dedicated to the booming Travel Tech industry. Travel is one of the world’s fastest-growing sectors. Travel startups of the last few years have already disrupted some of the largest sectors in our industry, a momentum we expect to continue. This large market of ever-increasing Travel Tech offerings is ready for smart investments, and Journey Ventures is an expert in the field.
• Thesis: Our goal is to develop a portfolio of Israeli and international companies specializing in the fields of tourism, travel Tech and the hotel industry that have reached an advanced stage of technological development.
• Investment Stages : Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C
• Roomerang LTD

To learn more about Journey Ventures , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Related Resource: 9 Active Venture Capital Firms in Israel

MairDuMont Ventures

• Location : Stuttgart, Germany
• About : MAIRDUMONT VENTURES is the venture capital arm of the MAIRDUMONT Group and has been supporting digital travel companies in their future growth since 2015. MAIRDUMONT VENTURES uses its unique sector focus “Travel” to dive deeply into different business models and to evaluate potentials together with our portfolio companies. We have extensive know-how and can leverage the huge network of the MAIRDUMONT Group – with well-known brands such as Marco Polo, DuMont, Baedeker, Kompass or Falk – to offer our portfolio companies not only financial resources, but also strategic and operational support. We invest in fast-growing, early-stage and innovative companies that revolutionize travel. These can be solutions for end customers (B2C) as well as business customers (B2B).
• Paul Camper

To learn more about MairDuMont Ventures , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Related Resource: 8 Active Venture Capital Firms in Germany

JetBlue Technology Ventures

• Location : San Carlos, California, United States
• About : JetBlue Technology Ventures invests in and partners with early stage technology startups improving the future of travel and hospitality.
• Thesis : We invest in and partner with early stage startups improving travel and hospitality.
• Investment Stages : Seed, Series A, Series B, Growth

To learn more about JetBlue Technology Ventures , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

500 Startups

• Location : Mountain View, California, United States
• About : 500 Startups is a global venture capital firm with a network of startup programs headquartered in Silicon Valley.
• Thesis : Uplifting people and economies through entrepreneurship
• Investment Stages : Seed, Series A

To learn more about 500 Startups , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

• Location : Venice, California, United States
• About : At Fifth Wall we are pioneering an advisory-based approach to venture capital. Full-service, integrated, operationally aligned. We are the first and largest venture capital firm advising corporates on and investing in Built World technology. Our strategic focus, multidisciplinary expertise, and global network provide unique insights and unparalleled access to transformational opportunities.
• Investment Stages : Seed, Series A, Series B

To learn more about Fifth Wall , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Thayer Ventures

• Location : Valencia, California, United States
• About : Thayer Ventures invests in Travel Technology.
• Thesis : We invest in early-stage travel and transportation technology.
• Snapcommerce

To learn more about Thayer Ventures , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Structure Capital

• Location : San Francisco, California, United States
• About : Structure Capital help passionate teams build great companies by investing seed-stage capital, time, experience and relationships.

To learn more about Structure Capital , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Portugal Ventures

• Location : Porto, Lisboa, Portugal
• About : Portugal Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in seed rounds of Portuguese startups in tech, life sciences, and tourism.
• Thesis : We invest in companies in the seed and early stages operating in the digital, engineering & manufacturing, life sciences and tourism sectors.
• Investment Stages : Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
• DefinedCrowd
• Sleep & Nature

To learn more about Portugal Ventures , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

aws Gründerfonds

• Location : Vienna, Wien, Austria
• About : Venture Capital for Ideas and Innovations aws Founders Fund invests venture capital during the start-up and early growth phase of Austrian start-ups. We offer support for your future (financial) plans as a long-term investor and partner and believe in the additional value of co-investments.
• CheckYeti.com

To learn more about aws Gründerfonds , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

VentureFriends

• Location : Athens, Attiki, Greece
• About : VC fund based in Athens but investing across Europe, we focus on FinTech, Travel, PropTech, B2C & Marketplaces. We are entrepreneurial investors, with strong experience, network and track record. We have been entrepreneurs, founders, worked at startups or angel investors in early stages and have a founder first & value driven approach
• Thesis : We are entrepreneurial investors who love to support startups and help them become impactful companies with a worldwide presence.
• Investment Stages : Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth
• Welcome Pickups

To learn more about VentureFriends , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Travel Impact Lab

• Location : Utrecht, Netherlands
• About : Travel Impact Lab helps start-ups to get started and sets existing travel organizations in motion.
• Investment Stages : Accelerator

To learn more about Travel Impact Lab , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Gobi Partners

• Location : Shanghai, China
• About : Gobi Partners is an early stage to late stage venture capital firm focusing on IT and digital media investments in China, HK and ASEAN.
• Investment Stages : Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C

To learn more about Gobi Partners , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Travel Capitalist Ventures

• Location : Irvine, California, United States
• About : Travel focused Venture Capital and Private Equity Investor.
• Thesis : We identify, invest and help travel companies rapidly and sustainably expand.
• Investment Stages : Seed, Series A, Growth

To learn more about Travel Capitalist Ventures , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Alstin Capital

• Location : Munich, Bayern, Germany
• About : Alstin Capital is an independent venture capital fund based in Munich. We invest in rapidly growing technology companies that have the potential to leverage the significant market potential of the future and become market leaders. We not only invest in convincing technology, but above all in the entrepreneurs behind the technology. We support our entrepreneurs with capital and know-how so that they can grow faster and more successfully. Our investment is based on the conviction that entrepreneurial know-how, many years of transaction experience, international networks and sales excellence are the success factors for sustainable growth. Our team brings a variety of complementary strengths to help make any investment a success.

To learn more about Alstin Capital , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

• Location : Hamburg, Germany
• About : We believe venture capital will make the best returns if you invest in the big future markets. Therefore we are strong believers in Tech (managed by Norbert Beck), Brain Computer Interface (managed by Florian Haupt) and pharma to prevent age related disease and prolong healthy human lifespan managed by Nils Regge with the investment vehicle Apollo.vc.
• DreamCheaper

To learn more about TruVenturo , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Howzat Partners

• Location : London, England, United Kingdom
• About : We are looking to invest in and build internet businesses that have a “HOWZAT” factor. This may sound a little trite; but we see major changes caused by the internet and the opportunities are genuinely exciting. The right idea; the right business; the right time; should generate the “HOWZAT” feeling. David felt it when he came across Cheapflights and was involved in acquiring the Company in 2000. We are seeking the same feeling again in the investments we make.

To learn more about Howzat Partners , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

Slow Ventures

• About :Slow Ventures invests in companies central to the technology industry and those on the edges of science, society, and culture.
• Thesis : Slow Ventures invests in companies central to the technology industry and those on the edges of science, society, and culture.

To learn more about Slow Ventures , check out their Visible Connect Profile.

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Top 15 travel startups transforming the tourism industry

Alexander Ragin

Updated May 04, 2024 • 19 min read

In this article

Top tourism startups to watch in 2024

The travel industry has experienced a significant transformation in the past decade, and a lot of that progress can be attributed to the emergence of innovative travel startups. Some of these startups have introduced groundbreaking technologies and services that have revolutionized the way travelers explore the world.

Keeping an eye on these up and coming companies will help your finger remain on the pulse of the industry as it evolves. Here are some of the most interesting and transformative travel startups around today, with substantial funding and unique ideas that could change the industry as we know it.

Acai Travel

Acai Travel offers an arrangement of language model-based travel operation optimization solutions suited to travel management companies, online travel agencies, airlines, hotels, and call centers — promising a 60% reduction in average handle time for the latter.

Business model

The company offers three solutions named Blueberry, Raspberry, and Strawberry. These are all set to be released at the beginning of 2024.

Blueberry is an artificial intelligence-based travel agent assistant that can be integrated with a CRM to help answer questions on behalf of agents, increasing their productivity. The company states that their data intelligence tool can digest all of the necessary information from a client company's Google Drive folders and SharePoint sites to produce relevant answers.

Raspberry is an artificial intelligence tool for automating incoming chat and email replies. Acai Travel promises more than 40% increase in agents' productivity on new reservations. The system works more as a co-pilot, rather than a completely automated response tool, meaning that agents are always in control.

Strawberry is an AI tool that reads and understands GDS systems and can translate them to the travel agent's preferred language. The tool is supposed to help local agents book, change, and cancel bookings no matter where their customer is from or what GDS they are using.

Funding, investors, and plans for future

Acai Travel received $500,000 in funding from investors, and managed to become one of PhocusWire's 25 Hot Startups for 2024. It also got support from Cornerstone.

Atlys is a mobile visa application app that aims to make the process of applying for visas easier and quicker. Currently it covers 233 countries and promises to reduce your application time to around four minutes, which is an enticing offer for both leisure and business travel purposes.

As the company founders state, the process is as follows: users login, choose their destination, upload their documents, and Atlys does everything else for a fee. And since most countries require the same set of documents for visas, the app saves users' uploads to make it easier for them to apply for other visas in the future, making travel management way simpler.

The app offers step-by-step guidance throughout the entire process, and allows customers to apply from anywhere in the world. Atlys also uses encryption to protect user data.

Atlys received around $5 million in seed funding and $12 million in Series A funding from investors. It plans to use it to enhance its offerings for travelers, expand its customer base, and add top talent to its team.

Boddy is a startup platform that aims to provide travelers with physical and digital wellness experiences on the go.

Boddy partners with various fitness and wellness operators and distributes their services directly, or through their strategic partners, whether it's an OTA or an insurtech company.

Boddy helps business travelers manage their workout routine no matter where they are.

Users can pay for subscriptions to gyms, fitness centers, and other wellness spaces in the city of their choosing (or any featured city in Europe if they are a Premium user). Once the user books a chosen spot and visits the gym of their choosing, all they need is to check in using the Boddy mobile app.

Boddy received €2.5 million in funding from investors and plans to expand its reach by diversifying options of fitness and wellness experiences, and forming new partnerships in the insurance, corporate travel, and digital health fields.

BookingData

BookingData is a travel technology startup that aims to empower third-party ancillary partners of airlines to present private, highly targeted offers directly to selected traveler profiles, increasing conversion and improving airline revenue.

The startup founders state that while airlines have always actively retailed first-party ancillaries (delivered by the airline itself, like extra luggage), third-party ancillaries like hotels and car rentals don’t get the same attention — they are usually featured as a couple of links at the bottom of a webpage with a less than 0.3% conversion.

At the same time, airlines hold invaluable insights about their passengers, and that travel data may be extremely useful to their ancillary partners (hotels networks or car rental services, for example). The idea behind BookingData is to provide tailored, private offers directly from ancillary business partners to passengers.

It works as follows: airlines let their ancillary providers select various traveler profiles to whom they want to make a private offer through the BookingData platform. After that, the offer is presented to the passenger via the airline communication channel with a direct link to the ancillary partner. These personalized offers then boost their conversion rates.

BookingData itself earns by taking a share of a commission that the ancillary partner pays to the airline after conversion.

The startup received €600,000 in funding from investors and plans on using said funding to expand their collaborations with various third-party providers in the travel industry.

BTP Automation

BTP Automation is a SaaS enterprise solution for automating the corporate hotel sourcing process. The travel startup promises overall reduction of up to 10% in hotel spend, a significant reduction in hotel program management labor through BTP’s automation capabilities, and full visibility into hotel programs and compliance.

The idea behind BTP Automation came from understanding the process behind hotel programs in the travel industry.

Each year, corporations negotiate rates, room-night commitments, and other terms with hotel networks to implement a company-wide hotel program. What that means is that typically, hotel programs remain static, regardless of market conditions, up until the next year.

However, the startup founders recognized that compliance to these terms, on average, is less than 50% — often, reservations aren't booked through the proper channel, the wrong rooms and properties are booked, and so on. All of that leads to costly out-of-compliance hotel bookings, which is a huge issue within the business travel sphere.

The solution BTP Automation came up with is an all-in-one data-driven hotel sourcing platform that can automatically and dynamically initiate or renegotiate hotel RFPs (requests for proposal), as well as identify corrective compliance actions to aid companies' expense management.

With $2.5 million gained in funding from various investors, BTP Automation has won awards from PhocusWire, Skift, and Business Travel News. The startup already works with over 200 companies on its platform, and plans to expand further.

Dharma is a travel company that plans and sells trips hosted by influencers and famous people. The startup’s offerings include Manchester football derby travel experiences with legendary ex-player Eric Cantona, and an "Emily in Paris" vacation in partnership with Netflix.

All tours on Dharma have pre-determined dates and itineraries, meaning that guests only have to choose the vacation that suits them best and book it. The options vary from hotel retreats in Puerto Rico to animal tracking in Chad and cost from around $1,500 to $4,000.

Dharma has received $10 million in funding from investors. The company's team are now working to launch a new travel platform that will allow the medium- and large-scale creators to plan and promote trips to their communities, meaning they'll probably expect to raise some extra funding for that too.

Grazzy provides hourly employees in the travel industry (and other industries as well) with an easy tipping system that allows them to access their money the same day. The founders of the startup aim to improve financial wellness for front line workers and reduce the costs of recruiting and retaining for hotels, bars, restaurants, and salons.

Grazzy doesn't require any app installation or account creation — guests just scan a QR code, offer quick feedback, choose the tip amount, and select a payment method. Tips can be distributed directly to employee-connected debit cards via ACH bank transfer or through payroll.

The system also automatically reports the tip to the taxing services, ensuring security, and provides an in-built analytics tool.

The startup received $6.8 million in funding from investors, and is looking to grow further. It also has landed some big partnerships. Hotel Equities, for example, decided to implement Grazzy across its 300+ hotels’ network.

Greether is a platform that connects female travelers with paid local women (or "greeters") who can act as tour guides, personalize their travel experiences, and, most importantly, ensure their safety during the trip.

The startup travel company reports that their greeters are now available in more than 90 countries and more than 450 cities.

Travelers are connected to their greeters before the trip even begins. Greeters, who are trained by the company to act as local experts, provide recommendations and establish a rapport, and then meet travelers on arrival. Then they become their "local besties", accompanying travelers during their trip and providing guidance on local customs and safety measures, as well as other useful travel info.

The core purpose of Greether is to empower female travelers and to provide job opportunities for women around the world. Both are huge social issues, and the startup choses to answer them by creating a new community of female travelers and locals, enriching the experience of both groups.

If we were to speak in terms of success, while the funding is unknown, this year Greether became one of 12 top travel startups chosen for Expedia's Open World Accelerator program.

That means the startup founders are receiving business and technology development support, a non-equity grant, and access to Expedia Group and travel industry experts for mentorship and coaching. Greether also was among the finalists of UNWTO Awake Tourism Challenge.

Jerne is a SaaS web platform designed to become a direct channel that connects creators/influencers and travel experience providers.

The goal of this sort of online marketplace is to assist in managing relationships and commercial agreements, controlling and monetizing user generated content, and tracking affiliate sales and ROI. Currently the online platform supports 5,000 creators and travel experience providers.

Influencers can sign up on the platform either for free (or for approximately $5-$10 monthly for extra features) and promote their services to experience providers. Providers, on the other hand, can search and filter influencers based on their goals, monitor their content, and analyze ROI.

While the exact funding for the startup is unknown, the platform has already had some successes, like partnering with Forbes Travel Guide to give properties streamlined access to vetted influencers, and becoming one of Phocuswire's 25 Hot Travel Startups for 2024.

Hotelverse is a startup that offers "Digital Twin" technology — realistic and interactive 3D models of hotels. These models are designed to be immersive, so travelers can get a better idea of what room they're booking, which elevates the overall customer experience.

As the founders state, Hotelverse's technology aims to change the hospitality industry by disintermediating hotel sales, using a proposition that can't be replicated by intermediary channels. At the same time, it also improves product knowledge to attract consumers.

There is no need for the Hotelverse team to visit a hotel to render the "Digital Twin" — their technology requires minimal content, like emergency plans and certain room specifications.

When the set-up process is complete, the startup enables integration of its Digital Hub into the hotel's website through an HTML-snippet, and from that moment the "Digital Twin" can be utilized. The startup also promises that their solution won't slow down hotels' websites.

Hotelverse is transforming the customer experience, letting travelers book rooms by viewing them first as 3D models. Hotelverse states that their solution increases the average time spent on a room’s page by 10%, and the conversion rate by 30%, meaning more hotel bookings and a more stable revenue flow.

Hotelverse received €2 million in funding from investors, and its founders were included in Forbes Top 100 creatives list. For now the startup is focusing on short-term conversions to reach €150,000 in contracted monthly recurring revenue by the first quarter of 2024, with emphasis on the Spanish and Caribbean travel markets.

In the long term, Hotelverse plans to reinforce its commercial presence in the U.S. by further enhancing their business offerings.

Kindred is a booking platform offering affordable vacation rental options to its members by empowering them to swap homes with other users. Currently, the booking platform supports more than 5,000 homes in more than 50 cities spread across North America and Europe.

Kindred allows members to earn one night of travel for each night they rent their apartment. That enables users to either swap houses for the same period of time, or host their homes while they are away to earn nights for later. Users also get one night’s stay for each five days their home is available on Kindred.

Members of the booking platform receive complimentary guest kits with towels and sheets, plus $100,000 host protection to ensure security. The company also organizes a video call before a stay is confirmed, so users can approve or disapprove each member. All of the homes that serve as vacation rentals get cleaned before and after the stay by a professional cleaning service.

The Kindred service costs $35 per night at maximum, and members have to pay for the cleaning. Even with that in mind, the opportunity to pay zero rent seems enticing. The company provides case studies of their members' stays, which are often six or seven times cheaper than stays in similar apartments for renting.

The booking platform has already landed $7.75 million in seed funding, followed by another $15 million of Series A funding from various investors. The founders state that by April 2023, the platform had achieved 5,000 nights swapped and received 20,000 membership applications.

Pebble is a California-based startup in the transportation field, offering an all-electric travel trailer that is supposed to be "the world's smartest" recreational vehicle — Pebble Flow.

Pebble Flow is a lightweight electric travel trailer that fits up to four people. It comes with a 45 kWh lithium-ion phosphate battery, 1 kW of rooftop solar batteries, Starlink support, AC and DC charging capability, and also regenerative charging capability that sends electrons back into the battery while towed.

The trailer itself has a kitchen with microwave and refrigerator, bedroom, bathroom, and a workspace, so owners can travel long distances comfortably and spend up to 7 days off-grid. It also comes with a smart app, and can hitch itself to a car. The Flow starts from $109,000.

Earlier in 2023, the transportation startup received around $13 million in funding from investors. The current travel trailer is an Alpha version, with Beta in development, yet the startup expects to start shipping the finished product by the end of 2024.

Point.me is a flight search engine that helps with travelers' expense management by enabling them to book flights with their airline and credit card rewards for significantly lower point costs. In its promotional video, the startup promises to reduce point costs by up to 12 times, maximizing the value of travel loyalty programs for users.

The company founders also mention that it has employed 55 travel industry professionals who know everything about points and the best ways to benefit from them.

Point.me's real-time metasearch engine pulls data from over 40 travel web sources, compiles the results, and enables users to compare airline tickets and other transportation options in a simple and convenient way.

The travel startup offers two services: "Self-serve" and "Concierge". The first one refers to using the search engine to find suitable tickets yourself, while the latter offers an one-on-one interaction with a specialist, who will search for the best flights that can be booked with users’ points and handle every step of the booking process.

The standard Self-Serve plan will cost a traveler $129 annually, while Concierge comes at a price of $200 for one person.

The travel startup received $12 million in funding from investors. It fills a very specific niche in the market, looking to grow further by expanding the functionality of the core service.

The Host Co.

The Host Co. aims to turn short-term vacation rentals into an all-in-one hospitality service by adding instant concierge amenities like spas and chefs to in-rental shopping. The startup positions itself as the "easy button" for hospitality upsells and promises to add up to 30% to the revenue stream.

The Host Co. connects travelers with curated local experiences, automates property owners' offerings, and manages their in-home gift shops. The idea behind the online platform is to let guests choose their own travel experiences during their stay at the vacation rental, while driving extra sales for the owners.

First, the owner sets up their shop page and adds local vendors (pre-found by The Host Co.) of their choosing. Then, when someone wants to purchase something, The Host Co. notifies both the vendor and traveler, allowing the owner to relax. Whenever guests order something, the owners earn up to 10% of the sale. The premise is ideal for leisure and business travel hosts looking to open up new revenue channels.

The travel startup received $2.1 million in funding from investors. Its founders are (in their own words) “laser-focused on being the best retailing partner”.

Weeva is a SaaS platform that aims to make sustainability simpler and more accessible for travel companies. It does that by enabling travel businesses to measure their sustainability in four major fields: conservation, commerce, community, and culture — all with the help of a catchy 360-degree UI, in-built guides, and a reporting system.

The travel startup’s idea came in April 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the African safari industry. As the company founders express, "We saw lodges shutting down, conservation efforts drying up, and friends losing their jobs."

Because of this, the founders were keen to support the travel industry to become more sustainable and resilient. The result is a complete support system for operationalising and managing sustainability.

The software offers to measure 18 parameters spread across the aforementioned four fields of sustainability, ranging from "Nature Protection" and "Cultural Heritage" to "Ethical and Inclusive Labor".

The business model is designed to help travel companies keep track of these parameters and analyze their success in reaching sustainability goals. The system also offers advanced analytics and reporting tools to help with expense management and other sustainability challenges.

Currently the travel startup has received around $10 million in funding from investors. The founders now plan to introduce conversational and generative AI capabilities to the company's software toolkit.

The travel industry is in a constant process of transformation, with fresh startup companies receiving promising levels of funding often at the center of that.

From promoting sustainability and ensuring security for female travelers to simplifying the process of applying for visas — new travel startups have a lot to offer, so you should certainly keep an eye on them in 2024. Who knows, maybe one day they’ll be your partners in collaboration, or maybe they will inspire you to try something new in your very own business.

What is a travel startup?

Travel startups are fresh new companies that usually have a unique offering and mostly rely on investments from major sponsors. And, luckily, there are lots of sponsors out there, like New Enterprise Associates, Bullpen Capital, Prime Ventures, Lead Edge Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Target Global, and Sabadell Venture Capital.

A travel startup's proposition can be anything, as long as it is innovative and helpful — from providing unusual luxury rentals and new means of transportation (like unlimited mileage car rentals), to creating a novel way for organizing company retreats.

For example, Point.me promises travelers the best possible deals for their airline and credit card rewards: it's a fairly unique offer that is backed by $12 million in funding from multiple investors, and that is even before Series B funding.

What makes travel startups stand out from traditional travel companies?

Travel startups not only bring a certain service or product to the industry, but they also bring innovation and new ways of doing things, whether it is an approach or a travel technology. Occasionally, they even have the power to shake up the leisure and business travel landscape entirely.

While it is a known fact that the vast majority of travel startups (and startups in general) never succeed, we've compiled a list of fresh, promising companies that have gained significant recognition and funding already.

What are the most interesting startups in the travel industry right now?

Some of the top travel startups to watch in 2024 include Atlys, Greether, and Weeva. Each one is trying to accomplish something fairly new, whether it is in the field of travel sustainability or visa applications. These startup companies are bringing a fresh wave of innovation to the travel industry, and have already received substantial funding and recognition.

Founder & CEO

Alex loves travel and tech and founded Zoftify to help travel companies use technology more effectively. Before this, he worked in tech consulting, where he led international mobile development teams.

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Top 9 Travel Trends & Innovations in 2024

How are the latest trends in the travel industry reshaping trip planning and enhancing tourist experiences in 2024? Explore our in-depth industry research on the top 9 travel trends based on our analysis of 3500+ companies worldwide. These trends include AI, immersive tourism, IoT, contactless travel & more!

Technological advancements in the travel industry meet the growing demand for personalized experiences, safety, and sustainability. Post the COVID-19 pandemic, emerging travel trends mark a shift towards contactless travel through digital payments, self-check-ins, and more. Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain are automating various hospitality and travel-related operations.

For instance, smart hotels make use of internet-connected devices to remotely control rooms. Further, businesses offer virtual tours by adopting extended reality (XR) technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Travel companies also leverage data analytics to personalize marketing. At the same time, traveler assisting solutions like chatbots and voice technology aid them in booking accommodation and optimizing journeys. These travel trends improve the overall profitability of the tourism industry and enable it to make operations more sustainable and safe.

This article was published in July 2022 and updated in February 2024.

Innovation Map outlines the Top 9 Travel Trends & 18 Promising Startups

For this in-depth research on the Top 9 Trends & Startups, we analyzed a sample of 18 global startups and scaleups. The result of this research is data-driven innovation intelligence that improves strategic decision-making by giving you an overview of emerging technologies & startups in the travel industry. These insights are derived by working with our Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform , covering 2 500 000+ startups & scaleups globally. As the world’s largest resource for data on emerging companies, the SaaS platform enables you to identify relevant startups, emerging technologies & future industry trends quickly & exhaustively.

In the Innovation Map below, you get an overview of the Top 9 Travel Trends & Innovations that impact travel & tourism companies worldwide. Moreover, the Travel Innovation Map reveals 3 500+ hand-picked startups, all working on emerging technologies that advance their field.

Top 9 Travel Trends

• Artificial Intelligence
• Immersive Tourism
• Internet of Things
• Contactless Travel
• Big Data & Analytics
• Post-Pandemic Tourism
• Tour Premiumization

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Tree Map reveals the Impact of the Top 9 Travel Trends

Based on the Travel Innovation Map, the Tree Map below illustrates the impact of the Top 9 Travel Industry Trends in 2024. Startups and scaleups are enabling contactless travel using technologies like biometrics, radio-frequency identification (RFID), and near-field communication (NFC). This is due to increasing health and hygiene concerns post the pandemic. The use of AI in tourism ensures hassle-free trip planning while AR and VR allow tourists to virtually visit various locations and excursions. IoT increases visibility into tourism industry operations and allows passengers to track their luggage more efficiently. Further, the demand for personalized and luxurious travel is rising. Several startups enable recreational space travel as well as offer sustainable travel options to passengers.

Global Startup Heat Map covers 3 635 Travel Startups & Scaleups

The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights the global distribution of the 3 635 exemplary startups & scaleups that we analyzed for this research. Created through the StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, the Heat Map reveals that the US, Europe, and India see the most activity.

Below, you get to meet 18 out of these 3 635 promising startups & scaleups as well as the solutions they develop. These 18 startups are hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.

Interested in exploring all 3500+ travel startups & scaleups?

Top 9 Travel Trends in 2024

1. artificial intelligence.

Hotels employ intelligent chatbots, powered by AI, to provide quick and personalized responses to traveler inquiries. These chatbots simplify the booking process and gather customer reviews, aiding potential travelers in making informed decisions. Moreover, AI-based robots enhance the customer experience by automating hotel disinfection and delivering room service.

At airports, these robots guide travelers and assist with luggage handling. Facial recognition technology, driven by AI, expedites identity verification at airports, enhancing security and offering a swift alternative to traditional methods. Startups are developing AI-powered trip planning solutions, optimizing journeys, and personalizing travel experiences.

Travel Professor develops a Travel Chatbot

UK-based startup Travel Professor offers an AI-enabled chatbot for travelers. The startup’s chat widget software monitors multiple flight deals and notifies users when their preferences match. It also provides travel destination recommendations and flight price alerts. This allows travelers to book economical flights and have a budget-friendly tourism experience.

Pneuma Travel facilitates Travel Planning

US startup Pneuma Travel develops a voice-assisted digital agent, Sarah , to streamline the process of travel planning. This assistant, powered by AI, excels in arranging flight and accommodation bookings and assists travelers in discovering a variety of activities. Sarah , available round the clock, provides continuous support for all travel-related inquiries.

Moreover, Sarah customizes travel options according to individual preferences and budgetary constraints. The agent further enhances the travel experience by providing insights into local attractions in unfamiliar cities. Importantly, Sarah enables real-time modifications to travel plans, in compliance with specific airline policies, thereby minimizing waiting times for users.

2. Immersive Tourism

Immersive tourism caters to the growing demand for meaningful experiences among travelers, leveraging AR, VR, and mixed reality (MR). VR simulates original locations through a computer-generated environment, allowing tourists to virtually explore destinations. It provides travelers with a comprehensive 360-degree tour of points of interest.

AR enhances the travel experience with interactive elements such as navigation maps and ads. Travel companies employ AR and VR-based gamification to heighten tourist attractions. Moreover, these technologies enable hotels and resorts to present amenities and rooms in an engaging, interactive manner.

VR Travel Expo offers VR-based Travel Plans

US startup VR Travel Expo develops a VR travel application to transform the way people research and book travel. The application enables users to plan their vacations more efficiently. It provides an engaging platform for users to explore and expand their knowledge of the world. Moreover, it employs 3D geospatial technology that creates real-time digital twins of the world. This further enhances the travel planning experience.

AR Tour makes AR Glasses

Italian startup AR Tour offers AR-powered tours. The startup’s AR glasses superimpose reconstructed images of archaeological ruins to show how the site originally was. Its tour informs the tourists about the site’s history and significance via an audio-visual package. Moreover, the startup designs lightweight AR glasses to prevent motion sickness among tourists, improving convenience.

3. Internet of Things

IoT generates ample data that tourism companies leverage to personalize services in their subsequent visits. Hotels use IoT sensors to enable smart rooms that automate room lighting, temperature, and ambiance control, enhancing guest comfort. These sensors adjust appliances in vacant rooms, conserving energy and reducing the building’s carbon footprint.

Startups harness IoT to deliver location-specific information to customers, including real-time luggage tracking via IoT tags, minimizing lost items. Airlines also incorporate IoT-based solutions into seats, monitoring passenger temperature and heart rate for proactive health management.

Altitude enables Smart Hotels

New Zealand-based startup Altitude creates an IoT-based hotel software and hardware to develop smart hotels. The startup makes self-service kiosks to automate reservations, room up-gradation, payments, as well as check-in and check-out. Its hotel management platform further enables contactless engagement with guests. Additionally, Altitude’s mobile keys allow guests to open doors using mobile phones, providing convenience and saving time for travelers.

Smart Tour provides Smart Itineraries

Brazilian startup Smart Tour offers smart itineraries using IoT and quick response (QR) codes. The startup recommends travel routes and destinations based on the user’s preference in real-time. This facilitates a seamless experience for travelers. Besides, the user-generated data enables tourism managers to better understand consumer behavior and indulge in proximity marketing. The startup also offers a contact tracing solution to monitor COVID-19 infected travelers and ensure public safety.

4. Contactless Travel

Travelers benefit from contactless recognition technologies like retina scanning, which replace traditional travel documents, speeding up passenger identification and reducing airport queues. QR codes offered by travel companies allow tourists to access relevant information on their mobile devices, enhancing engagement.

Hotels have introduced contactless self-check-ins, enabling visitors to arrange services before arrival. Additionally, contactless payment modes are available in hotels and restaurants for swift and secure transactions. Moreover, wearable devices are transforming the travel experience by providing real-time notifications and touch-free access to services and information.

Loxe designs Smart Hotel Keys

US-based startup Loxe makes smart mobile keys for hotels. The startup’s smartphone app replaces key cards with contactless mobile keys that allow users to unlock doors using smartphones. It also reduces operational costs incurred in the manufacturing of conventional keys or plastic cards. Moreover, the startup designs a Bluetooth retrofit module that converts normal door locks into mobile-ready door locks. This allows hotel owners to easily convert their existing locks into smart ones without additional expenses while improving guest safety and convenience.

Avendi provides Contactless Payment

Singaporean startup Avendi offers contactless and cashless payments for travelers. The startup allows tourists to accumulate expenses throughout their trip and pay at the end of the journey. Avendi’s app utilizes QR codes to add all the billed expenses and shown through its dashboard. The user settles the tab amount in the preferred currency, preventing the inconvenience of cash withdrawal or credit card payments.

5. Big Data & Analytics

Big data empowers travel companies with customer trends for strategic marketing. Analyzing traveler behavior, they offer tailored recommendations for hotel bookings, cab hires, flight reservations, and ticket purchases.

Predicting future demand is another advantage of big data and analytics, helping hotels and airlines identify peak periods to optimize revenue. Advanced analysis of transactional data aids in detecting cyber fraud, and safeguarding sensitive customer information such as credit card details and biometric data.

CheckandPack creates a Travel Platform

Dutch startup CheckandPack offers a big data travel platform. It runs marketing campaigns to gather traveler data and understand tourism trends. Based on these insights, the platform enables businesses to approach travelers with a customized appeal. It also provides travelers with holiday planning.

3Victors provides Travel Data Analytics

US-based startup 3Victors offers travel data analytics. The startup’s product, PriceEye Suite , proactively monitors the prices of numerous airlines to provide insights into competitor prices. It creates a dashboard to display travelers’ location of interest, allowing travel airlines to better manage their revenue and pricing strategy.

6. Post-Pandemic Tourism

Post-pandemic tourism focuses on safe, sustainable, and flexible travel options, responding to evolving traveler preferences and health guidelines. Enhanced health and safety protocols, including regular sanitization and contactless services, become standard in airlines and hotels, ensuring traveler confidence.

Destinations and operators emphasize outdoor and less crowded experiences, catering to a heightened demand for nature-based and wellness travel. Flexible booking policies and trip insurance gain prominence, offering peace of mind amid uncertainties. Sustainable travel gains traction, with tourists and businesses prioritizing environmental impact and community well-being.

GOPASS Global enables Pre-travel Risk Management

Singaporean startup GOPASS Global provides a travel risk analytics platform against COVID-19. It analyzes the biosecurity risk elements involved in a trip, such as border restrictions, quarantine requirements, airport type, and airline transit points or seating in real-time. This allows travelers to assess risk factors and plan their trips accordingly.

Moreover, the startup creates world maps displaying information regarding COVID-prone areas, testing areas, and vaccine coverage. This provides travelers with a preview of the current situation, allowing them to ensure safety during business and leisure travel.

Workcations enables Work from Anywhere

Indian startup Workcations provides properties at tourist destinations for remote-working individuals. It offers amenities like internet connectivity, food, and a quiet ambiance, allowing tourists to work in a peaceful environment without hindrance. This increases employee productivity, motivation, and retention.

7. Tour Premiumization

Hyper-personalization in travel experiences is on the rise, with tourists eager to immerse themselves in diverse cultures. Luxury travelers enjoy tailored experiences and intuitive services through tour premiumization. Health and wellness packages offered by travel startups help tourists unwind.

These retreats enhance health and offer detoxifying food options. Space tourism is another exciting development, offering leisure or research trips to space. Lastly, travel startups are fostering customer loyalty and building strong relationships through membership or subscription models.

STOKE provides Space Tour

US-based startup STOKE facilitates space travel using everyday-operable rockets. The startup’s rockets are reusable and deliver satellites to any desired orbit. This enables on-demand access to space, paving way for space tours for exploration, recreation, and research. The startup also emphasizes the economical and rapid development of its hardware for feasible spacecraft launches, advancing space tourism.

Origin offers Travel Personalization

Dutch startup Origin provides premium travel personalization to tourists. The startup utilizes machine learning and travel curators to plan creative vacations. It also arranges flights and accommodation for travelers. Further, the startup measures the carbon output of itineraries and offers sustainable tourism options.

8. Ecotourism

Traveling responsibly minimizes tourism’s environmental impact and supports local communities’ well-being. Ecotourists strive to reduce their carbon footprint during their journeys. Startups contribute by developing sustainable transport, ecolodges, and solar-powered resorts.

Airline passengers have the option to offset carbon emissions during flight bookings. Local tourism stimulates small businesses economically and creates job opportunities. It also emphasizes minimum littering, which lowers pollution and the time spent on cleanups.

Jet-Set Offset simplifies Flight Carbon Offset

US-based startup Jet-Set Offset creates a carbon-offsetting platform for air travel. The startup partners with non-profit organizations working against climate change and connects them with travelers. Each time travelers book flight tickets via the startup’s platform, Jet-Set Offset contributes a certain amount per mile for their journey to environmental organizations. This way, the passenger’s journey promotes mileage-based donations to offset carbon emissions.

The Green Stamp facilitates Ethical Wildlife Tour

Dutch startup The Green Stamp provides a platform to book ethical wildlife tours. It curates tours based on the tourists’ inclinations toward certain locations or wildlife. Exploration of these projects allows travelers to indirectly contribute to their cause as these wildlife projects donate to the welfare of local communities and the environment.

9. Blockchain

Blockchain provides the travel industry with operational transparency and security. Traceable payments, particularly for international travel, are a key application, that fosters trust among parties involved in transactions.

Automation and enforcement of agreements in travel insurance and supplier contracts are achieved through smart contracts. This strengthens reliability and cuts administrative costs. Travel firms establish customer loyalty programs where points are exchanged for cryptocurrency. Lastly, blockchain increases data storage security, reducing the risk of information leaks.

Upswing facilitates Guest Profiling

Indian startup Upswing creates AURA , a blockchain-powered platform for guest profiling. It provides a holistic view of guests, their preferences, and purchase patterns. The platform associates a score with each guest and suggests improvements in their service. This facilitates hotels to provide a personalized experience to their guests and, in turn, increase sales.

UIQ Travel develops a Solo Traveling App

US-based startup UIQ Travel develops a blockchain-based app to connect solo travelers. It discovers people with shared interests and suggests tours or attractions. Such hyper-personalized recommendations assist in experience discovery and also increase traveler engagement.

Discover all Travel Trends, Technologies & Startups

Tourism, although severely impacted by the pandemic, now continues to rapidly grow across the globe. Post-pandemic trends indicate an increasing emphasis on hygiene and safety during travel. The industry is witnessing the widespread adoption of disruptive technologies like AI, XR, IoT, and blockchain. The travel industry utilizes big data to understand traveler trends for targeted marketing. The transition to ecotourism is accelerating as businesses integrate zero-emission transit and carbon offset programs to reduce their carbon footprint.

The Travel Trends & Startups outlined in this report only scratch the surface of trends that we identified during our data-driven innovation and startup scouting process. Among others, personalization, decarbonization, and travel safety will transform the sector as we know it today. Identifying new opportunities and emerging technologies to implement into your business goes a long way in gaining a competitive advantage. Get in touch to easily and exhaustively scout startups, technologies & trends that matter to you!

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5 techniques to create the next hot travel startup.

In this post you’ll learn 5 techniques you can use to take your current or new travel startup idea and iterate the core components into a singular-use travel product.

I see a product trend in the consumer Internet space I call “singular-use,” products.

Popular startups including travel startups are being built around singular consumer, needs, wants, uses or utilities and the core use can be described in less than one sentence. Apps like Ulmon mobile city guides are leading the pack in singular-use.

Here are a few other examples.

Airbnb.com – rent your spare bedroom to travelers.

HotelTonight – hotel rooms for tonight only.

SnapChat – self-destructing digital pictures.

Vine – 6 second animated video.

I am continuing my analysis into why this trend is making waves.

Here is what I currently see.

First, as people we are acting and replying to one another quicker than ever before. Mobile devices and the Internet have sped up our communication process and our lifestyle.

The result of our fast pace lives is attention span and comprehension being compressed and shortened just to keep up.

We perform and adapt better to functions that are limited or take less time to complete an action. Thus apps and single-use products and services are becoming more and more popular. In theory single-use products and services help us deal with our busy and fast moving lifestyle more efficiently.

How do you create a single-use travel product or service that helps travelers?

I read a Wall Street Journal article, adapted from Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg’s new book, Inside the Box : A proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results .

The premise of the book is based around the idea that people are more innovative when they focus on the internal aspects of a situation or problem and constrain their options vs. going outside the box. This is somewhat contrarian thinking.

Take a product, service or process and break it down into components. Using Boyd and Goldenberg’s 5 techniques below you manipulate the components to create new products and services.

What I found is that a few of the techniques work really well for coming up with singular-use travel product ideas.

Subtraction –Remove what you think are the essential elements of a traditional travel product or travel service.

HotelTonight is a perfect example of applying the subtraction technique.

Most travel companies that sell hotel rooms sell every night, Expedia and Hotels.com. The nightly hotel room is the essential element of the product. Subtract 364 nights in a year and only sell 1 night.

The singular-use in this case is the need to only stay tonight or 1 night.

I believe the subtraction technique works the best for creating singular-use travel products and services.

I heard of a travel startup that is building a product that helps Facebook friends travel to see one another. I think this is an interesting idea but the entrepreneur may have trouble getting traction because there is too much going on, flights, car rental, hotels, trying to sell a travel service like many of the competing OTA’s.

If traveling to see friends you’re most likely staying at your friends house and traveling by car, airplane or you’re meeting somewhere in between.

Using the subtraction technique and creating a singular-use the entrepreneur could create “Flights To Friends” or “Visit Friends,” an app with one click would show you airfare to your friend’s house for this weekend. You could build this fairly quickly using the Facebook API, bringing in an airfare comparison API like ClickTripz or partnering with an OTA’s affiliate program.

Task Unification –Bring together unrelated tasks or functions.

Airbnb.com is a good example of the task unification technique. Who would have ever thought that there was a billion dollar market for renting out your spare bedroom to strangers?

Travelers need places to sleep (the function). Homeowners receive income to help pay their mortgage (an unrelated task).

I am attending the Eye For Travel conference in Chicago in September and I am looking for a hotel. I searched at Airbnb.com just to see what was available and I found one condo near the conference that was $99 a night. The amazing thing is that the couple with the condo had 300 reviews. In my estimation this couple has done close to 500 bookings or $50,000 in sales.

Multiplication –Copy a component and then alter it.

SnapChat was created using the multiplication technique. Taking a digital picture with a camera has been around forever. Alter the picture by making it self-destruct.

The multiplication technique is the easiest way to create new singular-use travel products and services.

Division – Separate the components of a product or service and then re-arrange them.

The low cost airlines are a good example of using the division technique to create new products and services. I am thinking about traveling with Spirit airlines on an upcoming trip. Right now the airfare is $249 round trip from Orlando to Chicago. If I bring bags they are $25 for carry-on and $50 for underneath the plane. Spirit airlines separated the components of what was normally part of the traditional air service to create new revenue generating services.

Component Dependency – Make the components or a variable of a product change in response to the changes in another component or variable in the surrounding environment.

Groupon and Living Social and the group buying insanity that swept through like a wave in the last few years is a good example of the component dependency technique.

When 10 people buy the deals is on. This technique generally revolves around pricing schemes.

Is singular-use a trend?

Why are consumers gravitating towards singular-use products?

What do you think?

The Wall Street Journal, Think Inside The Box.

Think Inside The Box is a great book that will help you create the next big travel startup.

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The latest on the massive solar storm

By Angela Fritz, Elise Hammond and Chris Lau, CNN

Incredible lighthouse picture from Maine

From CNN's Chris Lau

Among a flurry of surreal images capturing the dazzling auroras is one taken by Benjamin Williamson of a lighthouse in Portland, Maine.

"It's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen, the awe and wonder," Williamson told CNN.

He said he used a long-exposure technique to snap the shot, but did not edit it.

Watch the full interview with Williamson here .

Things could be about to ramp up

If you still haven't seen the aurora, hold on for another 30 minutes to an hour, according to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

The next wave of coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, which cause the aurora, is about to arrive, he said.

"Just wait a minute because things are going to start to ramp up here," he said, adding that the increase could arrive "anytime now." "When it comes, get outside, get ready, put your coat on."

For those who are too busy to witness the phenomenon tonight, Myers said the aurora is expected to last three nights.

Why does the aurora last for a weekend?

By CNN's Chris Lau

Generally, it takes just eight minutes for light to travel 93 million miles to the Earth from the sun, but astrophysicist Janna Levin said the energized particles causing the current wave of aurora travel a lot slower, causing the phenomenon to last for the weekend.

"Some of these mass ejections are trillions of kilograms," she said. "They're slower. So they're taking longer, but still hours, maybe tens of hours."

Here's how the solar storm looks in the South and on the East Coast

The aurora was visible across the East Coast and in the South Friday.

Here's how it looked in Chester, South Carolina.

Down in Florida, waves of color swam through the sky.

Up north in New Jersey, a purple-ish haze could be seen in the sky.

Will solar storms get more intense and risky in the future?

The answer is probably not in the short term, according to astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi.

He said scientists study what is constantly happening on the surface of the sun and have found a pattern.

“Geological data shows us that in the past the sun was way more active than it is today. It has cycles where it goes very quiet ... and you have events that show that the solar activity was much, much greater,” he told CNN. “So there's no evidence that we're going to see those big maxima this cycle." 

But the astrophysicist also spoke of a caveat - the limitations of modern science.

“Even though it's predictable in the short term, we still don't quite understand what creates the magnetic fields in the sun,” he said, adding: “That's why NASA has so many satellites looking at the sun.”

In Pictures: Auroras light the sky during rare solar storm

From CNN Digital's Photo Team

A series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun are creating dazzling auroras across the globe .

The rare solar storm may also disrupt communications. The last time a solar storm of this magnitude reached Earth was in October 2003, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center.

See more photos of the aurora from tonight.

Behind dazzling aurora could lie “real danger,” Bill Nye the Science Guy says

The massive solar storm could present “a real danger,” especially with the modern world relying so much on electricity, according to Bill Nye the Science Guy , a science educator and engineer.

Scientists are warning an increase in solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun have the potential to disrupt communication on Earth into the weekend. Solar flares can affect communications and GPS almost immediately because they disrupt Earth’s ionosphere, or part of the upper atmosphere. Energetic particles released by the sun can also disrupt electronics on spacecraft and affect astronauts without proper protection within 20 minutes to several hours.

In comparison to tonight's event, Nye drew comparisons with another incident in 1859, known as the Carrington Event, when telegraph communications were severely affected.

“The other thing, everybody, that is a real danger to our technological society, different from 1859, is how much we depend on electricity and our electronics and so on,” Nye said. "None of us really in the developed world could go very long without electricity."

He noted that there are systems in place to minimize the impact, but “stuff might go wrong,” stressing that not all transformers are equipped to withstand such a solar event.

“It depends on the strength of the event and it depends on how much of our infrastructures are prepared for this the sort of thing,” he said.

Bill Nye breaks down significance of the solar storm | CNN

This post has been updated with more details on solar flares' impact on electronics.

Here's where clouds will block the view of the northern lights in the US

From CNN's Angela Fritz

After an incredibly stormy week, most of the Lower 48 has clear skies to see the northern lights. But there are some areas where clouds and rainy weather are spoiling the view.

A deck of clouds is blocking the sky in the Northeast, from parts of Virginia into Maine, as an area of low pressure spins off the East Coast.

In the Midwest, the aurora will be hard to see through thick clouds in parts of Wisconsin, Michigan — including the Upper Peninsula — and Illinois.

A stripe of clouds is tracking across Texas, including Dallas-Forth Worth, and into Louisiana.

And in the Southwest, patchy clouds across the the Four Corners region could make the northern lights difficult to spot.

Aurora seen at least as far south as Georgia

Barely visible to the naked eye, the aurora can be seen in Atlanta in the 10 p.m. ET hour. 

It is easier to see through photographs using a long exposure. The photos below, taken by CNN's Eric Zerkel and Emily Smith, used 3- and 10-second exposures.

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Hydrogen-powered aircraft in development by Australian company AMSL Aero aims for net zero aviation

While the race to transform electric vehicles on land speeds up, it is a different story in the sky.

Battery technology is not yet able to power even the smallest aircraft beyond 200 kilometres, and in Australia, that is hardly worth the effort.

But an Australian aviation startup on a mission to decarbonise air travel is developing a battery that could power a small aircraft to travel 1,000 km using hydrogen, and it already has a customer.

AMSL Aero received the first commercial order for its Vertiia aircraft from Aviation Logistics, the company behind regional airline AirLink.

AirLink chief executive Matthew Kline said the purchase was key to meet industry plans to be net zero by 2050.

"Using hydrogen is a game-changer for us, we can get up to 1,000km flight distance and that's what we need for the work we do," he said.

The next decade of aviation policy will be outlined with the release of the federal government's Aviation White Paper later this year.

Last year's Green Paper indicated two areas of focus were net zero emissions and accessibility for regional and remote communities, both of which could be supported by aircraft known as Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) services.

Vertiia is the first Australian-made aircraft to apply for AAM-type certification through the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

In a statement, CASA called it an exciting yet "daunting" task, considering Vertiia had features of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft.

"Nobody's done this in Australia ever and in that sense, it will be breaking new ground," said manager of aircraft certification, Klaus Schwerdtfeger.

Testing is already underway at an airstrip near Wellington, in central-west New South Wales, and if all regulatory approvals are met, operations could begin in 2027.

AirLink plans to initially rollout Vertiia for its freight and charter flight services, with a view of later introducing the hydrogen-powered aircraft for its scheduled service flying Dubbo, Walgett, Bourke and Lightning Ridge.

"At the moment, we fly out to Bourke and leave the aircraft out there all day before we fly back in the afternoon," Mr Kline said.

"But because the running costs are so much lower, we could bring that aircraft back and do other flights or run there and back a few times in a day."

Takes off like a helicopter, flies like a plane

As companies across the globe work to improve the fuel efficiency of existing planes, AMSL Aero co-founder Siobhan Lyndon said they chose instead to start from scratch.

"There are companies who are retrofitting fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters but this is a clean-sheet design," she said.

Co-founder and chief engineer Andrew Moore took inspiration from another Australian inventor while developing the Vertiia's box-wing design.

"It's an evolution of the box kite which Lawrence Hargrave invented, and it's one of the oldest, funnily enough," he said.

Lawrence Hargrave was an Australian aeronautical pioneer who experimented with theories of flight to construct different flying machine models in the late 19th century.

"We actually did lots of configuration studies and just happened to come to the same conclusion that Hargrave did, the box-wing works really well."

The Vertiia design uses eight motors pointed vertically for take-off and landing that rotate to a horizontal position when at cruising altitudes up to 10,000 feet, or 3,000 metres.

While other electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) do exist, AMSL Aero hopes to be the first long-range eVTOL to market using hydrogen.

"Nearly all other eVTOL are focused on electric batteries which have a shorter range to serve the urban air mobility market like Manhattan, or that Silicon Valley-to-San Francisco route," Ms Lyndon said.

"Those aircraft will have a 160km range to start with, but we see hydrogen as a game changer for us to allow that longer range of 1,000km non-stop."

60 million drone flights annually by 2043

In October last year, researchers from Swinburne University of Technology completed the first flight of an uncrewed hydrogen fuel cell eVTOL drone in Australia.

By retrofitting existing drones with electric and hydrogen fuel cell systems, the Aerostructures Innovation Research (AIR) Hub team has been able to develop flight data for hydrogen-powered aircraft.

It is an area sorely lacking in data, according to AIR Hub director Adriano di Pietro.

"There is some work happening internationally, but it's usually locked up in a proprietary sense," Dr di Pietro said.

"The other reason we're doing this work is to really drive the use case and demand, to help Aussie companies actually justify doing first development for aviation systems."

AMSL Aero is also developing its own uncrewed aircraft after receiving a $3 million grant from the federal government's Cooperative Research Centre program to build a remotely piloted version of Vertiia to be used for aerial firefighting.

"Being remotely piloted, you might use it in ways that are too risky for a pilot today," Mr Moore said.

"It could potentially save people's lives on the ground by getting to those situations where there's a raging fire threatening people."

In March, Airservices Australia announced plans to develop a digital air traffic management system after an analysis projected the growth of drone and uncrewed aircraft would reach 60 million annual flights by 2043 .

"I think what is not talked about a lot is the fact that aviation underpins a lot of industry in Australia that most people aren't aware of," Dr di Pietro said.

"Most of the land area of Australia is serviced by aviation and certainly, there is a big government push at the moment to drive that forward."

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Senate Approves Bill to Reauthorize F.A.A. and Improve Air Travel

The Senate also passed a short-term extension of the current F.A.A. law to give the House time to clear the longer-term package early next week.

By Kayla Guo

Reporting from the Capitol

The Senate on Thursday passed legislation to reauthorize federal aviation programs for the next five years and put in place new safety measures and consumer protections for passengers, at a moment of intense uncertainty and disruption in the air travel system.

The bill , which still must win final approval in the House before becoming law, would provide more than $105 billion to the Federal Aviation Administration and another $738 million to the National Transportation Safety Board for airport modernization, technology programs and safety. It would also bolster the hiring and training of air traffic controllers, codify airlines’ refund obligations to passengers, ensure fee-free family seating and strengthen protections for passengers with disabilities.

“Aviation safety has been front of mind for millions of Americans recently, and this F.A.A. bill is the best thing Congress can do to give Americans the peace of mind they deserve,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said on the Senate floor on Thursday evening.

It passed in an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 88 to 4, just one day before the current law is scheduled to lapse. The Senate also unanimously approved a short-term extension to allow time for the House to take up and clear the longer-term package next week, a step that would send it to President Biden.

The legislation is a bipartisan compromise negotiated over months by the Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over the F.A.A., after Congress authorized several short-term extensions of the agency when lawmakers failed to meet earlier deadlines. The House passed its version of the bill almost a year ago in a lopsided vote of 351 to 69.

Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, chairwoman of the Commerce Committee, celebrated the bill’s provisions on consumer protections, aviation safety, air traffic controllers, airport infrastructure and work force development on the floor after passage.

“This is a big moment for aviation,” Ms. Cantwell said. “We have had safety issues and concerns that we need to make a big investment. This legislation is that investment — in safety standards, in protecting consumers and advancing a work force and technology that will allow the United States to be the gold standard in aviation.”

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, said: “This legislation is a strong, bipartisan, bicameral bill that includes hundreds of priorities for senators and representatives, both Republican and Democrat. This bill gives the FAA the safety tools it needs at a critical time.”

As one of the few remaining bills considered a must-pass item this year, the F.A.A. package, which prompted several regional disputes, became a magnet for dozens of amendments and policy riders that threatened to delay it in the Senate.

With the legislation threatening to stall, the House on Wednesday approved a one-week extension for the F.A.A. before leaving Washington for the weekend. The Senate followed suit on Thursday, steering around lingering disputes that had threatened to scuttle the effort and cause a brief lapse for the F.A.A.

The debate came at a time of acute uncertainty about the aviation system, which has had a recent spate of concerning episodes such as dangerous near collisions on runways, plane malfunctions and thousands of flight delays and cancellations.

It was unclear for much of Thursday whether the Senate would be able to push through the legislation and the extension, as senators demanded votes on amendments or threatened to block speedy passage. No amendments were ultimately brought to a vote.

The most intense regional fight was over a provision in the bill that would add five round-trip long-haul flights out of Ronald Reagan National Airport outside Washington. Proponents, which include Delta Air Lines, have said they want to expand access to the nation’s capital and increase competition.

The proposal incensed lawmakers representing the area , who argued that the airport maintains the busiest runway in the country and cannot support additional flights. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia and Benjamin L. Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, all Democrats, filed an amendment to strike the new flights.

Mr. Kaine and Mr. Warner threatened to hold the bill up if they did not receive a vote. But Mr. Cruz blocked an effort to bring up a compromise amendment that would have given the transportation secretary the final say on new flights after considering any effects they would have on delays and passenger safety.

“The Senate abdicated its responsibility to protect the safety of the 25 million people who fly through D.C.A. every year,” Mr. Kaine and Mr. Warner said in a statement. “Some of our colleagues were too afraid to let the experts make the call. They didn’t want to show the American people that they care more about a few lawmakers’ desire for direct flights than they care about the safety and convenience of the traveling public. That is shameful and an embarrassment.”

The senators from Virginia and Maryland were the only votes against the bill.

Another group of senators failed to secure a vote on a proposal to halt the Transportation Security Administration’s expansion of facial recognition technology at airports and restrict it where it is in use.

Senators had also proposed adding a number of unrelated bills, including one that would compensate people harmed by exposure to the nation’s nuclear weapons program , legislation to fully fund the replacement of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, and a credit card competition measure. Senators Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, and Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, were pushing for a vote on their bill to protect minors online into Thursday. None of them made it into the final product.

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the bridge in Baltimore that collapsed. It is the Francis Scott Key Bridge, not the Francis Key Scott Bridge.

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Kayla Guo covers Congress for The New York Times as the 2023-24 reporting fellow based in Washington. More about Kayla Guo

A Divided Congress: Latest News and Analysis

Biden Impeachment: A crop of freshman Democrats on the House Oversight Committee has countered Republicans’ allegations against President Biden with attention-grabbing charges of their own .

Marjorie Taylor Greene: The hard-right congresswoman from Georgia failed spectacularly  in her bid to depose Speaker Mike Johnson. But for a figure who sees her power in creating chaos, the loss was the point .

Aviation Bill: The Senate passed legislation to reauthorize federal aviation programs  and put in place new safety measures and consumer protections, at a moment of intense uncertainty and disruption in the air travel system.

Ted Cruz: The Republican senator from Texas, who made a name for himself trying to shut down the government over the Affordable Care Act, took on an unfamiliar role as a critical player in pushing through the aviation bill .

Antisemitism Hearing: A Republican-led House committee turned its attention to three of the most politically liberal school districts  in the country, accusing them of tolerating antisemitism, but the district leaders pushed back forcefully .

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Taylor Swift sings 'The Alchemy' as Travis Kelce attends Eras Tour in Paris

PARIS — Taylor Swift sang "The Alchemy" as part of her acoustic set of surprise songs during Sunday's Eras Tour show with boyfriend Travis Kelce in attendance. Several football metaphors in the song have led fans to believe Swift wrote it about the Kansas City Chiefs tight end.

"Can you believe this is the 87th show?" Swift asked during her acoustic set in La Défense Arena. Kelce wears No. 87. She then played a mashup on guitar of "The Alchemy" from her new album "The Tortured Poets Department" with "Treacherous" from "Red."

Kelce stood in his box as Swift glanced up at him and the crowd looked back and forth between the two.

"This happens once every few lifetimes," Swift sang. "These chemicals hit me like white wine.”

The crowd roared.

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Kelce joined 40,000-plus fans for the fourth and final night of Taylor Swift 's Eras Tour in Paris. He watched from a box seat alongside actor Bradley Cooper, super model Gigi Hadid and rock star Lenny Kravitz.

The concert marks the fifth time Kelce has appeared at the tour since the couple went public last year. His first stop was Buenos Aires, Argentina, followed by Sydney, Australia, and two nights in Singapore . Swift has changed the “Karma” lyrics to "guy on the Chiefs" every time Kelce has cheered her on from the sidelines.

Kelce hadn’t seen the new set list live since Swift switched up the eras and added her 11th era, “ The Tortured Poets Department .” The singer-songwriter said she’s been working on the changes for 8-9 months (since last fall).

Hadid has famously been a member of Swift's squad for years now and has been dating Cooper for several months.

Other celebrities spotted in the crowd included Grey's Anatomy actor Jessica Capshaw and singer Christina Milian.

Her next stop is Stockholm, Sweden, as she continues the European leg of the tour.

Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the  free, weekly newsletter This Swift Beat.

Catch Taylor Swift live with tickets at  Vivid Seats , shop  merchandise , and stream her latest on  Disney+ . Purchases you make through our links may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.

Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on  Instagram ,  TikTok  and  X as @BryanWestTV .

Prime Video's Most Underrated Sci-Fi Show Has a Time Travel Twist

What would you do if you found a teleportation chamber under your shed?

The Big Picture

• Prime Video has been making a push into original sci-fi shows, with notable successes like The Expanse and Outer Range .
• Night Sky , starring J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek, is Prime Video's most underrated sci-fi gem, featuring teleportation and time travel.
• The show explores rich characters and intricate storylines, showcasing compelling multi-generational character arcs in a single season.

Prime Video isn't necessarily known for its original science fiction television shows just yet, but in the last few years, the streamer has made a concerted effort to rectify that. The Expanse is available on Prime Video and is the most well-known of the genre, having a much-celebrated run of six seasons , but it originally aired on SyFy ; Battlestar Galactica was also picked up by the streamer with great success. However, more recent noteworthy in-house efforts like Outer Range , starring Josh Brolin and Imogene Poots , and Philip K. Dick 's anthology series, Electric Dreams , have shown that Prime Video is getting more serious about developing their own smart and mind-bending sci-fi originals.

Arguably the best sci-fi show they have produced to date, though, is an underrated gem featuring two of the most decorated and accomplished actors of the last 50 years. Night Sky stars J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek ; the Holden Miller -created show debuted in 2022 and delivers eight episodes of science-fiction goodness, including fan-favorite elements like teleportation and time travel. The exceptional chemistry between the talented leads and the compelling premise make Night Sky Prime Video's most underrated science fiction original.

A retired couple living a seemingly mundane life uncover a cosmic gateway in their home that connects to an alien world. Their peaceful existence is challenged as they delve deeper into the interstellar mysteries, facing both the vast unknown and their own past traumas.

What Is 'Night Sky' About?

Franklin and Irene York ( J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek, respectively) spend their golden years together on their farm just outside the small Illinois hamlet of Farnsworth. Their existence appears sleepy and uneventful, but they hide a secret that will eventually turn their quiet little corner of the world into a dangerous place sought out by teleporters and time travelers with malevolent intentions. In the pilot episode, when Irene asks Franklin if they can "go see the stars," she isn't talking about sitting on the porch and looking at the sky or lying down on a blanket and gazing out into the Milky Way.

Instead, we see Franklin take her by wheelchair across the yard and into a small wooden tool shed. Heading down a dark tunnel lit only by a single bulb, they eventually reach a vault door, and inside is a teleportation portal to another world. They walk into a room with a beautiful panoramic vista of an alien sun and moon across craggy extraterrestrial terrain . It's a phenomenon that they have kept to themselves and used just as a viewing room for years, but when a mysterious man named Jude ( Chai Hansen ) shows up, their life is turned upside down.

Franklin and Irene's Chemistry Is Thrown a Curveball in 'Night Sky'

Simmons and Spacek share the effortless chemistry and charm that only two screen veterans can pull off; it's supposed to feel like they know each other like the backs of their own hands, and it does. The perfect give-and-take between the two draws you into the slow burn in the first couple of episodes, but then the science-fiction and drama elements kick in with a bang.

Their hum-drum existence gets upended by a few different things: their nosy neighbor, Byron ( Adam Bartley ), Irene's thirst for knowing what lies beyond the pane of glass beneath the shed, as well as an enigmatic stranger who appears randomly inside the chamber covered in someone else's blood. Franklin and Irene bring the wounded man into their house and put him up in the room of their late son, Michael, who died by suicide 20 years prior. Afterwards, Irene convinces Frank that this man must've come from "the other side" of the glass.

Sissy Spacek Wasn’t the First Choice for ‘Carrie’

When they rifle through the man's bag, they find all kinds of anachronistic goodies that could only have come from a time traveler, like 17th-century Spanish doubloons and a small brick of an extraterrestrial element. Once he is nursed back to health, we discover that the stranger's name is Jude. Spacek shines as a headstrong elderly woman who finds new life in the arrival of their mercurial new house guest , while Simmons deftly plays the old and skeptical curmudgeon.

Thoroughly Developed Characters Set 'Night Sky' Apart From Other Sci-Fi Shows

In Episode 2, we're introduced to a mother and daughter who are simple alpaca farmers on a sprawling Argentinian farm. Toni ( Rocio Hernandez ) is the precocious daughter of the doting Stella ( Julieta Zylberberg ). We quickly discover that they, too, have a chamber like the one beneath Franklin and Irene's shed. Stella tells Toni that they are guardians of the time-traveling chamber, and it's the most important job that they could have. Another mysterious and intimidating man named Cornelius ( Piotr Adamczyk ) shows up at their farm, giving them an important assignment that will test their resolve and loyalty to a long line of gatekeepers. Eventually, Stella, Toni, and Cornelius find their way to York's Farnsworth farm looking for Jude, and the true meaning of the chambers and their occupants become clear.

Night Sky is a special kind of science fiction series because it takes its time. Many will call that a "slow burn" or deliberate pacing, but for this particular Prime Video show, it's essential to peel back all the layers of the richly contoured cast of characters. There aren't a ton of visual effects or otherworldly spacescapes to be found in Night Sky , but it's a rare science fiction offering that delivers nuanced and rich characters with carefully-crafted backstories , along with love and loss being explored from the perspective of both parents and children. The time-travel and teleportation element will soothe your sci-fi itch, but caring for the outcome of the storylines and multi-generational character arcs makes this a worthy series. There won't be a second season of Night Sky , so go ahead and take in the terrific eight-episode season that we did get from Prime Video.

Night Sky is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

Watch on Prime Video