In 2020 and 2021, many of us have had daydreams about where we would like to go on vacation – despite a year unlike any other. The Coronavirus situation has made many of us wonder how the variety of global industries will adapt to the new situation. One of them is the travel tech industry. How will travel look post-pandemic? And will there be any travel industry at all?

Below, you can read more about the innovations that are likely to shape the Nordic’s travel tech scene in the years to come. As for whether or not the travel industry will exist in the future – of course! We all have travel-related daydreams in our minds already. Making people daydream of a product is at the core of making them buy it: The same goes for a beach vacation, a shopping trip to London or New York, and a business trip.

During the fall of 2020, Startup Norway and Nordic Traveltech Lab launched the Nordic Travel Tech Incubator. The ambition was to bring forward Nordic startups within the startup scene, and this has been a success. Now, the Travel Tech Day – and the end of the incubator’s first batch is coming up. Investors, corporates, and travel ecosystem players that are interested in learning more about the travel tech scene are invited to participate by signing up (link further down).

Per-Arne Tuftin is the CEO of Norsk Reiseliv (Norwegian Tourism Partners) and the board leader of Nordic Traveltech Lab. He says the incubator is showcasing 11 professional startups from all the Nordic countries.

– The purpose of establishing Nordic Travel Tech Incubator has been to encourage and ensure cooperation between industry partners and startups. This will strengthen innovation, and competence, increase investments and forward technological growth – with the intent of creating sustainable solutions for the travel industry in the Nordics. During the previous six months, the program has had 11 startups as participants. Each of the Nordic countries has contributors in the incubator, and these startups are all at a high level. We look forward to presenting them at our Demo Day, says Tuftin.

The 11 startups in the incubator include (among others) BookNordics, GetLocal, and Faundit, and you can read more about them below. During the Travel Tech Day, every startup will present its progress as part of a pitch to the investors in the audience.

Sign up for the Travel Tech Day

Booknordics: – We give a heartfelt recommendation of the program

Booknordics is a Norwegian startup selling Nordic adventures B2C on booknordics.com and B2B as an aggregator for OTAs, TOs, and channel managers worldwide. The company offers 3,000+ quality-assured and handpicked adventures in Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, the Shetland Islands, and Greenland. With Booknordics, your adventure can really grow beyond what you had imagined: Whether you want to go by land, at sea, in the air, or even underground – Booknordics has got offers for you.

When asked why Booknordics chose to sign up for the Nordic Travel Tech Incubator, the CEO Christer A. Olsen says they see the incubator as a unique opportunity for seeking expertise, building a network, and positioning themselves for growth when the markets will re-open.

– The program is well structured, with good teachings from both the financial and the commercial track. Both tracks have provided us with valuable insights. We have connected with people within the commercial track, and we are now about to develop cooperation with these. Our network of commercial players is growing both in the incubator and externally.

We give a heartfelt recommendation of the program to every company that wants to acquire professional knowledge and new perspectives on how to do business.

GetLocal: – The process gave us discipline and organisational skills

Getlocal started its life as an OTA, focusing on selling tours and experiences to people traveling to Iceland. However, as time went on – they found that the current tools for running a business such as GetLocal online were insufficient, so the founders set out to make their own.

It wasn’t long before other companies began to take notice and wanted a slice of this software thanks to its ease of connection to the Bokun inventory system. Demand got to such a point that GetLocal pivoted out the entire business to focus on the selling and developing of what is now the Getlocal Whitelabel solution – helping tourism companies around the world reach a whole new audience online.

Emil Emilsson is the manager and co-founder of Getlocal, and says the company has passed on other opportunities to participate in other incubator programs.

– We had discussed in the past whether an opportunity like the one presented by the Nordic Tech Incubator would be a good move for our company. We usually reached the conclusion that the amount of work would be overwhelming and this stood in our way of going for it. After being invited to join the program we ended up not having a lot of time to consider our participation so we followed our gut and just went for it.

Emilsson says that after seeing all that the incubator had to offer, they did not regret our decision.

– Participation in this process has given us the discipline and organizational skills we needed to examine the aspects of our business that needed strengthening for potential future investment.

Emilsson says Getlocal already has established important relationships with the other companies participating in the incubator, as well as the investors and mentors. The Icelandic startup has had a great time seeing what kinds of potential collaborations could spring forward from these relationships in the future, and also found a particular pleasure in the ability to have down-to-earth conversations with everyone involved.

– The greatest lesson that we have learned during this incubator was the detailed explanations of exactly how investors operate. It has been incredibly helpful to know what matters in their eyes and what does not. We have also learned how to best present information and data that is relevant in their opinion. It has been very useful to listen to both the mentors and guests who were invited to introduce us to the working methods and standards.

Emilsson praises the incubator for making the participants prioritize the work of getting details and processes right when building a business.

– We strongly recommend for start-ups join incubators if they get the opportunity. While the work is time-consuming and very demanding, it is also rewarding and constructive. The work that you do gets to the core of what needs to be addressed within your business to help it grow in the future. Often these are things that can be overlooked in the general hustle and bustle of day-to-day life.

Faundit: – The sessions have helped me think differently

When guests forget their belongings, they are desperate for help from the staff at the hotel, park, or station. Although local laws require the staff to contact the guest, the staff might neglect the task – and miss a great opportunity to build loyalty. Today, more than 200 partners in 10 countries use Faundit to simplify their ‘Lost and Found’ procedures and create memorable experiences for their guests.

Casper Larsen is the CEO of Faundit, and when asked why he chose to sign up for the Nordic Travel Tech Incubator, he talks about the desire to find a place for discussing challenges and ideas.

– I figured that in an industry-specific incubator, you are very likely to find someone who can relate to you. On the first application pitch day, it felt like an ambitious group of startups, which was super motivating for me.

He adds that he “absolutely” would recommend the incubator, and adds a few reasons why.

– If you are looking to expand from your home market, grow a sales team or secure investment, the incubator can add a lot of value. The sessions about sales playbooks combined with the CLTV from the investment side have helped me think differently about building growth and sales models. I have implemented that already today. Being an international incubator, the other participants are definitely interesting contacts to have – as are the mentors that we've been matched with. It can sometimes be hard to grow your network outside of your home country, so these contacts are great.

All this talking about travel tech startups might make you a little adventurous. Do you want to sign up for the Travel Tech Day?

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