Haven't become a rock star yet? However, there's a chance to become a star of new technologies, which are improving every year in various fields, particularly in tourism. On October 15, the final of the largest competition in Russia and Eastern Europe took place in Moscow as part of the GoTech Arena forum. IT startups in one breath. 200 investors and 658 startups from 22 countries gathered on one platform, creating, developing, and implementing new technologies.
The consulting firm GoTech Innovation is the organizer of the largest technology company competition in Russia and Eastern Europe. The GoTech Arena forum was held under the motto "Founders Define Future." The event included expert panel discussions, workshops, and 10-minute meetups with interested participants from the worlds of business and technology.
Tourism industry representatives presented their projects to potential investors. Most agreed that package tours are a thing of the past.
"Interest in package tours is declining, and today's travelers are demanding a fundamentally new approach to vacation planning. Thomas Cook invented the package tour format, but even after creating a giant and industry leader, it failed to adapt to changing demand, the trend toward digitalization, and the demand for personalized experiences. Today, the number of services offering personalized travel services online is steadily growing. We represent one such service. We are seeing a growing demand from travelers for small-group tours based on shared interests that can be safely and easily found and paid for online. These can include expeditions, wine and food tours, fitness and yoga tours, and yacht trips. Travelers value the opportunity to travel to new destinations with a group of people who share their interests, enjoy an engaging program, and cut costs at the same time. This format has long been known worldwide, but in Russia, it is only just emerging," says Olga Bortnikova, CEO of the YouTravel.me marketplace for signature tours.
The event featured expert speakers, including NGINX Inc. co-founder Maxim Konovalov, Readdle's Vice President of Marketing Denis Zhadanov, Terra VC Managing Partner Petr Lukyanov, Untitled Ventures Managing Partner Konstantin Sinyushin, and many others. The key question on the travel industry's agenda was: "What will tourism be like in the future, and is it worth investing in?"
"Our country has numerous underinvested locations with significant tourism potential. Because of their lack of service, they don't attract enough visitors. Natural resources are our greatest asset. If these locations develop infrastructure like in other developed countries, the number of tourists and, consequently, the profits will increase hundreds of times," says Petr Lukyanov, managing partner of Terra VC.
In the SKL Tech category, BeTrip received a cash prize of 150,000 rubles and the opportunity to become a resident of the SKL Tech business incubator and attract investment. This smart navigation app for tourists creates routes based on the analysis of geodata from social media. The target audience is independent travelers; package tours are once again out of the question.
"In three to four years, there will be a huge number of independent travelers who package their own trips, and travel will become personalized. Someone will certainly emerge who will cover the entire value chain: from the decision stage (where to fly) to purchasing tickets, hotels, car rentals, travel support, and sharing experiences. These are the companies of the future," says Vladislav Tkachuk, CEO of BeTrip.
Three startups won the Arena Pitch nomination: Exomys from Austria, which specializes in the development of passive exoskeletons for industrial applications; the Russian-British company Cybertonika, which is developing a platform that uses AI/ML for monitoring; and TraceAir, which is developing technology for creating a 3D digital model of a site using unmanned aerial vehicles.
GoTech Innovation has been providing corporations with services for identifying and working with technology startups since 2009. Key competencies include startups and technology discovery, accelerating and tracking innovative technology companies, and creating and implementing turnkey corporate programs and events for working with startups.
Source: trn-news.ru