The travel industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. To come out strong from this crisis, it is important for you to stay ahead of the technology curve as this strengthens your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the travel industry. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked sustainable travel & tourism startups.
Global Startup Heat Map: 5 Top Sustainable Travel & Tourism Startups
The 5 travel startups you will explore below are chosen based on our data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and relevance of technology, among others. This analysis is based on the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering over 1.3 million startups & scaleups globally.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights the 5 startups our Innovation Researchers curated for this report. Moreover, you get insights into regions that observe a high startup activity and the global geographic distribution of the 630 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
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Green Tickets creates a Sustainable Travel Planner
Although traveling helps broaden people’s horizons and get to know different cultures, it is a major contributor to climate change. Therefore, startups develop planning solutions to provide travelers with sustainable alternatives, reducing the toll on the environment. Such solutions include sustainable ticket search, carbon offsetting, and CO2 calculations to lower the carbon footprint of the tourism sector.
Dutch startup Green Tickets develops sustainable route planning solutions for travel within Europe. The startup’s ticket suggestion platform allows users to compare the sustainability of the routes they choose. Among the factors that the startup includes are the mode of transportation and time of day. Moreover, Green Tickets offers eco traveling tips, giving tourists an opportunity to plan their trip more sustainably.
Tripian personalizes Sustainable Travel
It is evident that the travel industry needs to adapt to the changes brought by the changing public concern about climate change. To support travel companies adapt to the tourists’ demands, startups develop personalized and sustainable solutions. Utilizing technologies such as AI and data analytics, these solutions improve customer experience and retention.
Canadian startup Tripian provides a trip planning platform to personalize related content and services. The platform uses AI to show customers personalized travel recommendations based on their profiles. Additionally, the platform offers a route planner and location-based recommendations, thereby accommodating the preferences of green tourists.
CO2 Cards reduces Carbon Offset
When it is impossible to avoid a carbon footprint, carbon offsetting solutions compensate for the carbon dioxide (CO2) created through supporting environmental projects such as reforestation. To further advance this effort, startups develop carbon offsetting initiatives to balance travel-related emissions. These solutions promote green tourism to support the growing sustainability movement.
Bulgarian startup CO2 Cards offers a carbon-offsetting solution for online travel agencies. The solution consists of an application programming interface (API) that calculates the carbon footprint based on customers’ orders and integrates carbon offsetting options in the companies’ ticketing systems. This helps travel agents secure the trust of environmentally-minded customers and reduce the net carbon footprint of the travel industry.
Jet-Set Offset focuses on Sustainable Air Travel
Air travel is one of the biggest contributors to growing CO2 emissions. Although sustainability-wise, any other mode of transportation is more preferable than air travel, it sometimes is the only option. To reduce the impact of passenger flights, startups provide carbon offsetting solutions for individuals and businesses, sometimes in collaboration with environmental organizations.
Jet-Set Offset is a US-based startup offering mileage-based carbon offsetting solutions for businesses and individual contributors. The startup gives human resource (HR) departments and travel managers a platform to offset employee air travel emissions. By providing a solution for mileage-based donations, Jet-Set Offset helps companies reach their sustainability goals in an easy way.
MURMURATION tackles Over-tourism
Popular destinations often suffer from an excessive influx of tourists, particularly during peak holiday seasons. This has a negative impact on local communities, visitor experience, and the overall condition of the destination. To tackle over-tourism, startups develop data-driven solutions that utilize satellite data to help local governments preserve their communities and attractions.
French startup MURMURATION provides a sustainable tourism solution based on satellite imagery to travelers and travel agencies. Flockeo, the startup’s platform, utilizes satellite data to identify the number of tourists at a given destination. Empowered by this data, travel agencies and tourists themselves have the opportunity to pursue alternative destinations, thereby lessening the negative impact of over-tourism.
Discover more Travel Startups
To keep you up-to-date on the latest technology and emerging solutions, we provide you with actionable innovation intelligence – quickly and exhaustively. You can download one of our free Innovation Reports and discover new business opportunities or save your time & let us look into your areas of interest. We provide you with an exhaustive overview of new startups, scaleups & emerging technologies that matter to you.
