A new Innovation partnership deal among Tahiti Innovation Labs (TIL), Travel Startups Incubator (TSI) and the Ministry of Tourism for French Polynesia was announced today and will set the stage for the French Polynesian islands to become the next global tech hub and smart tourism destination.
The Smart Tourism initiative will bring full tech integration to the island: TSI will introduce new technology and travel tech startups to the island, while TIL will integrate, deploy and promote their services with assistance and support from the Ministry of Tourism.
In the last decade, Tahiti’s tourist arrival numbers have fallen from 260,000 visitors a year to around 180,000. For an island that counts tourism as its number one industry, the drop in arrivals is significant. This initiative aims to boost tourist numbers by pushing the island to the forefront of the tech in tourism scene.
The final objective is to build a smart, proactive customer assistance network and countrywide Internet of Things (IoT) platform that will provide one-to-one human interaction, support and timely opportunities for feedback. The aim is to help tourists discover the island and its tech services so they can make the most of their stay and share their experiences with others. All of this will rely on a free WiFi cloud covering all main islands and providing seamless internet access to all tourists.
“This partnership will position French Polynesia at the sharp end of tech and travel innovation,” said Thierry Lehartel, CEO of Tahiti Innovation Labs. “Imagine arriving at the island and effortlessly having everything you need to know at your fingertips – it would make traveling easier and more enjoyable to know that your needs are taken care of. We aim to provide visitors with a frictionless connection with the island, with complete access to tourism and leisure services at all times. The initiative will vastly improve the tourism sector and our visitors’ quality of experience.”
A dynamic approach to the partnership will provide both TIL and the Tahiti’s Minister of Tourism with ongoing access to the TSI private investor and innovation partner network. The TSI portfolio of startups will be reviewed and evaluated for market fit, business development needs, potential local deployment integrations and technology acquisition opportunities.
Selected TSI portfolio startups will therefore have a unique opportunity to showcase, develop and promote their technologies in the countrywide ecosystem. Startups chosen for review will be introduced to local stakeholders and considered for deployment throughout the island. Travel and lodging expenses will be funded or subsidized for the incubator or any startups for the purposes of bringing the incubator to Tahiti for preliminary negotiations and introductions to the local hotels and merchants.
“We are looking for the wow factor, an open platform that’s accessible to large numbers of tourists from all over the world,” said Matt Zito, Managing Partner of TSI. “Tahiti will become an incubator for technology in tourism; we want visitors to the island to harness that technology to help them discover new places, new experiences. Thanks to improved networks and mobile internet connectivity, visitors will be able to share their experiences in real time and become high impact social beacons and ambassadors for these beautiful islands.”
After piloting the new technology, a testing period, and setting out a roadmap for future integration, feedback from local industry will be sought. Successful pilots will be rolled out locally and promoted as part of the “Smart Tourism” initiative.
With governmental support from Tahiti’s Ministry of Tourism, TIL will leverage the exclusive Tahitian ecosystem and bring services and technology together to form a countrywide platform. The partners will seek to improve the local network and experiment in order to find a new model for innovation in tourism technology.
The Minister of Tourism, Mr. Jean-Christophe Bouissou, announced this exciting and innovative partnership during his opening speech for the Tourism Forum at the Territorial Assembly of French Polynesia: “Tourism has always been the main economic engine for French Polynesia, but at only 8% of our GDP, it has considerable room to grow. The Ministry of Tourism has just released our 2015 – 2020 vision for tourism, and I consider that technology is undoubtedly becoming a key element to not only improve our visitor’s experience, but also to enable our visitors to promote the destination through whatever social media channels they prefer. Our government is intent on not only implementing international best practices in the field of tourism technology, but also in creating a suitable environment for tourism tech startups to setup shop in Tahiti and validate their assumptions.”
Fluent’s text/image translation mobile app wins Eye For Travel’s TDS America Startup & Innovation Awards. Chronicles of Earth & MATTR take Runner-ups.
Tim Hentschel CEO Hotel Planner and Sponsor of the Innovation Awards with Fluent Co-Founder and Tim Gunstone CEO Eye For Travel the conference organizer.
Kerri Zeil, Amadeus, Matt Zito, Travel Startups Incubator, Nicole Zito, Travel Startups Incubator, Bill Schwegler, Chronicles of Earth
A total of 12 startups pitched.
Triptease – Providing transparency on 3rd party rates to boost direct bookings
ProximiTel – Big data platform utilizes iBeacon technology hosting 7,000,000 data points
RoomStorm – We automated airline hotel voucher issuance
Tig’See – A market place for travelers to discover boutique tour operators
AYOOPA – We are the “Amazon of Rentals” for travel/outdoor gear
MATTR – End-to-end Influencer Marketing combined with audience psychographic segmentation
Hotelsandstyle.com – Global Luxury Hotels Booking and Selection Website with Unique Features
Travel Startups Incubator is pleased to announce our investment in Chronicles of the Earth, a mobile app aimed at adventure travelers.
Chronicles of Earth, in beta and available in the Apple App Store is a mobile app and trusted network for travelers where they will be able to define themselves by the trips they take and the stories they share. Stories are told with Chronicles, which are journals of multimedia vignettes located on a map and positioned in time. The mobile app allows users to add photos, video, audio annotations and text to each Vignette (or chapter) to build a complete picture of their experiences. Travelers can create travel journals and albums and then establish their credentials and trust through the stories and media they share with their friends, family and followers.
“Chronicles of Earth is a new way for travelers to share their stories and learn about the world,” says Chronicles of Earth CEO and Founder of Uber-acquired deCarta, Bill Schwegler. “It’s a network for real travelers and real stories. Our mobile app differentiates itself through trust; Chroniclers will be able to follow people on their journeys, building relationships and rapport – instead of having to rely on the advice and opinions of strangers, which is the case for most other travel review websites.”
Travelers looking for adventure and inspiration will be able to search for their next trip by keyword, location, area of interest, and Chronicle author. Additionally, users can take their journeys offline; saving their Chronicles as travel journals or albums in PDF format that is ready for printing as a soft or hardback book.
Chronicles of Earth finds its competitive edge in evocative storytelling and being able to share with anyone on any device or social media site through a network focused specifically on travelers and tourism.
“I created my first Chronicle on a camping trip to the Yosemite High Sierra Camps, using a very early prototype,” adds Schwegler. “I was able to take photos, videos, record audio annotations and – even with this rudimentary version – I was able to capture the sprit of my companions and the essence of our trip, and then share it with my friends. I treasure that memory, and I hope that’s what Chronicles of Earth can bring to the public; storytelling is in our genes, after all.”
“Bill and his team are proven Silicon Valley entrepreneurs that are working on a big idea to help travelers share their adventures and travel stories in a new and extraordinary digital experience. As travelers who are always connected we are looking for expressive ways to not only preserve our memories but to share our amazing experiences with friends, family and like-minded travelers. Chronicles of Earth will help enrich our lives. We are very pleased to have them be a part of Travel Startups Incubator, says Matt Zito, Managing Partner.”
About Chronicles of Earth
Chronicles of Earth is founded by colleagues Bill Schwegler, former CEO at Uber-acquired deCarta, and Ann Cowan, former deCarta VP of Engineering. With years of combined experience in geospatial technology and application and platform software development between them, they teamed up again to form Chronicles of Earth, a network of storytellers sharing their stories as multimedia Chronicles online and making printable albums and journals.
10 months ago, FlitWays raised $25,000 investment from Travel Startup Incubator and they used the $25,000 to increase their revenue by 430% within 4 months. FlitWays is now raising $150K-$1M via Flashfunders and the Travel Startups Investor Network.
FlitWays offers ride pre-booking service in 110 cities helping travelers and businesses to schedule a ride ahead of time. With FlitWays, a ride can be pre-booked up to 1 year in advance. Business and leisure travelers can easily book a ride the same way they book their flight and have all of their travel services pre-arranged for a complete door-to-door travel experience.
FlitWays currently operates in 110 global major cities with access to over 15,000 vehicles. The company currently maintains 31% monthly growth (CAGR).
In September, FlitWays generated over $60,000 in sales, serviced 1,400 trips from new and recurring customers. FlitWays is targeting $9.1 M revenue for 2016 with the seed-series investment. The company has functioning in-house built technology and expects to use the raised capital to boost sales and expand to new markets.
FlitWays just secured a revenue partnership with 3 major travel companies (TUI, Xerox and Megabus) which will allow the travel companies to resell FlitWays service directly to their global travelers.
FlitWays was selected as one of the top 15 Best Startups at Collision in Las Vegas 2015. FlitWays was featured on Tnooz as an emerging travel startup dedicated to securing transportation to and from airports. FlitWays was also featured on Yahoo Finance, Skift, New York Magazine and KillerStartups.
Matt Zito, Managing Partner of Travel Startups Incubator participated with other travel startup founders and Amadeus in a 3 part video series produced by Skift about what it takes to create a startup in the travel industry. Watch the video below and a special report called Building the Future of Travel: 5 Takeaways for Startups, can be download for free. Episode #1: Vision
A new Innovation partnership deal among Tahiti Innovation Labs (TIL), Travel Startups Incubator (TSI) and the Ministry of Tourism for French Polynesia was announced today and will set the stage for the French Polynesian islands to become the next global tech hub and smart tourism destination.
In the last decade, Tahiti’s tourist arrival numbers have fallen from 260,000 visitors a year to around 180,000. For an island that counts tourism as its number one industry, the drop in arrivals is significant. This initiative aims to boost tourist numbers by pushing the island to the forefront of the tech in tourism scene.
