RAINE MAGAZINE Volume 20 | Innovate

APPRENEURS TO WATCH
FIND YOUR PERFECT TRAVELING MATCH
About TripTogether.com
Image Courtesy of Trip Together
Most people prefer to travel with someone, but not everyone has a friend
or partner to accompany them, or someone in a destination country
to meet with. With this in mind, TripTogether was born. The brainchild
of a small group of diffident but aspiring entrepreneurs with modest
experience across travel, IT and social media.
TripTogether.com is a social travel website designed to
match single travelers for communication and sharing mutual interests
through live chat, joint vacation planning, and discovering diverse
cultures. TripTogether’s active membership has grown in a short time
to now exceed 300,000 travelers and aspiring travelers from around
the globe. The travel portal’s visitors come from more than 100
countries and 11,000 cities, with to date over 80,000 trips discussed
through the site.
A great advantage of TripTogether is that members can
instantly connect and chat live online with other members anywhere
in the world in real-time. This feature is complimented by the site’s
robust and user friendly email system. With exciting features including
Live Chat, Trip Planner, and Email, members can map their journeys,
discuss planned excursions, meet with new friends from overseas,
show visitors their favorite places, and share their tips on travel. It’s the
perfect time for a social travel network of this class.
TripTogether provides an easy-to-use service catering to the
natural desire of travelers to not only explore the world but to enable
them to meet new people.
RAINE: What inspired you to create Trip Together?
TRIP TOGETHER: The growth of the travel sector, the growth of social
networking especially online, plus understanding that there exists a
basic human need for companionship, especially when traveling alone.
RAINE: How did you fund your venture?
TRIP TOGETHER: We’re privately funded by individuals, starting on
a shoestring budget.
RAINE: How would you forecast your growth over the next three years?
TRIP TOGETHER: At least increase our sales by
170% for the last half of this year over the first 2 quarters, but we’re
hopeful to at least keep pace with the growth rate of revenue within the
travel industry, but a
RAINE: What has the response been like to Trip Together?
TRIP TOGETHER: Response has been very robust, but we like to think
this is due to our aggressive and savvy marketing approach.
RAINE: Who is your target demo and market size?
TRIP TOGETHER: Persons 25-65, average to above average
income, highly socialized, active users of social networks, looking for
new contacts in the field of travel. In 2014 there were 1.087 Billion
travelers worldwide (UN World Travel Org). So THAT’S our market. 5%
of these are active on travel social media and we see this trend rising.
RAINE: What has been the greatest challenge your company has had
to overcome?
TRIP TOGETHER: The public’s understanding and therefore their
embrace of the concept. Older users aren’t as computer savvy ad
younger users, who take to our service very naturally. However, it’s the
35+ demographic that has the disposable income to travel. So ours is a
challenge to inform, educate, and create, if you will, a market.
RAINE: What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
TRIP TOGETHER: Assume an attitude of perpetual optimism, don’t
take yourself too seriously, read everything, and have at least one
big laugh per day...
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