Thai Startup Nominated as 1 of the Top 10 Finalists to Join Booking.com Accelerator Programme in Sustainable Tourism

Bangkok, 11 April 2017 – Today Booking.com, the global leader in connecting travellers with the widest choice of incredible places to stay, announced the 10 startups that will join its new accelerator programme, Booking.com Booster. The goal of the programme is to identify, mentor and fund enterprising startups from around the world that are seeking to have a positive impact on the global tourism industry. The 10 selected ventures will participate in a 3-week programme in June 2017 in Amsterdam that culminates with a chance to pitch to a panel of Booking.com and industry experts for grants of up to 19 million Baht from Booking.com.

“We are so impressed with the amazing diversity and quality of applications that we received for the Booking.com Booster Programme. The incredible passion and genuinely innovative business concepts we saw from startups from practically every corner of the globe was truly inspiring,” said Gillian Tans, CEO of Booking.com. “I can’t wait to get to know these 10 startups better and see how we can help them to accelerate their growth plans in order to bring their vision for sustainable tourism to even more destinations around the world.”

The 10 sustainable travel startups that will be joining Booking.com Booster in June 2017 are:

1. MovingWorlds (USA & Colombia)
2. Authenticook (India)
3. Backstreet Academy (Singapore and Southeast Asia)
4. Visit.org (USA)
5. Awake (Colombia)
6. Seabin (Australia & Spain)
7. MEJDI Tours (Israel & Palestine)
8. Desolenator (UK)
9. Local Alike (Thailand)
10. Good Hotel (Guatemala, UK & Netherlands)

Nearly 700 startups with teams from 102 nationalities applied to join the programme, with the United States, India, the Netherlands, Russia and Italy topping the list for the highest numbers of applicants.

For Thailand, Local Alike, a local online marketplace where you can find curated travel experiences in local communities across Southeast Asia, has been selected to join the programme.

Local Alike believes in traveling the right way. We inspire every traveler to be a change-maker by helping us transform tourism into a powerful development tool. We work hand-in-hand with the locals to build their capacity and to curate a genuine and meaningful experience for travelers and locals alike. We also set up community based tourism fund to help improve the quality of life for each community we work with.

Local Alike exists as two business entities. Local Alike Travel is a tour company that operates community-based tourism tours in Thailand and soon across Southeast Asia. Local Alike.com is the technology arm that is a sustainable tourism online marketplace where travellers around the world can find local and authentic experiences.

After 4 years in the business, we succeeded in developing 70 communities in Thailand and this year we are expanding into communities in Vietnam and India. What makes us unique is we establish long-term partnerships with local communities. We bring in more income and educate them to optimize resources from tourism to further develop their societies. We encourage them to fix community issues from the root cause.

“What we are most excited about is to personally connect with other like-minded fellows from the other 9 teams, as well as the team at Booking.com.” said Somsak Boonkam, Founder and CEO

For more information about the Booking.com Booster Programme, refer to the launch release available on our media room: https://news.booking.com/th-th/booking-com-booster-program/