Tushky : For Exciting Experiences in Travel and activities.

Are you a travel freak? Do you love traveling but never have the time to plan and arrange your trip? Or you are not able to find out interesting places to go, interesting things to do.

GeekOnNet is showcasing another hot Indian startup (Tushky.com) that will take care of planning and arrangement of your trip to make it memorable and adventures. Tushky, an online marketplace to buy, sell or promote exciting travel experiences or experience related activities, in Mumbai and nationally, to provide an alternative to the impersonal approach of large tour companies and legacy travel agents.

Tushky is founded by a team of IIT Bombay, alumni:

Tushky is a hub for any experience-seeker to connect with local experience-provider and vice-versa. Tushky is for travelers who will love to live through the experience instead of just looking at it. The "been there, done that" era of fleeting visits to famous sites is well and truly over - travel virgins excepted. The modern traveler wants to take home a memory, not a memento.”

Tushky works only with a pick of providers, who can offer the best experience in their domain. Each experience is authenticated before putting them online; hence the buyer is sure of the quality of the experience.

“We added activities in our bouquet of products since, travelers are active 14 hours a day, but typically spend only six hours with the primary lure or attraction (the primary reason for visiting). That leaves an additional 8 hours for secondary activities or diversions. What is there to do after 5:00 pm? Downtowns can fill this role: providing entertainment, events, shopping, dining, etc. in a pedestrian-friendly setting.” Mr. CEO adds.

By providing a user-friendly platform, with a built-in community to promote the experiences across Facebook, twitter and Gmail, the team believes that, they will be able to claim a substantial stake of the $26.7 billion activity and experience market, which this year has become the fastest growing segment of the leisure travel market (with revenues surpassing those of cruises and car rentals combined). Tushky’s goal is to become the largest destination for travel experiences and activities worldwide, with an initial focus on Mumbai, where they plan to grow organically as local experts add their tours and experiences and from there, branch out nationally and internationally.

“Travel has seen tremendous innovation in flight and accommodation booking, especially with sites like Hipmunk and Airbnb disrupting the industry,”

“But once these reservations are booked, travelers still rely on old-school (and costly) guidebooks, travel agents, and large tours to plan their itineraries. It’s the blind spot of the travel industry.”

Tushky makes money by taking a percentage fee from those offering experiences (“local experts”). It anticipates additional revenue streams coming from affiliate partnerships with companies offering flight and accommodations, which would also provide their users with a fun and easy way to plan a trip they feel good about in just a few clicks.

Tushky is entering a market dominated by Makemytrip, cleartrip, Travelocity and other online travel agencies that have added activities to their offerings, as well as popular travel guide, The Lonely Planet, which has been expanding its online presence and recently added activity booking to their site through the large tour aggregator, Viator.

Mr. CEO says “What will differentiate us from these larger companies is our ability to reach and appeal to small, independent tour guides and individuals who want to share their world and expertise with travelers while making extra cash, as well as to travelers who have lost trust in existing industry platforms and crave more authenticity in their travel experiences. Further, we are bullish about the promotion feature on our site. We are very tightly integrated with social networking sites, because we believe that people love to share and brag about their experiences and expeditions”.

“The large OTA’s are not concerned about providing the unique, backdoor experiences that many travelers want,” says Mr. CEO. “That’s the market we’re trying to address first.”

Tushky.com
11/43, Yeshwant Nagar, S.V. Road, Goregaon(w) - 62
Phone– 022 28714472/3
Info@tushky.com

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