Meet The Front Runners
The finalists in the Front Runners Travel Tech Competition – the joint initiative between WTM London, Travel Forward and World Tourism Forum Lucerne (WTFL) – have been announced.
The nine finalists – all tech-driven start-ups that fit the competition criteria of being on a mission to revolutionize the industry, who innovate for an impact and with a purpose to drive sustainable development and good practices – will now be flown for free to London for the final.
They’ll get the chance to showcase their innovation to a global audience, network with potential partners, be visible to top investors and get stand space at this year’s WTM London and Travel Forward events, which take place from Nov. 1 to Nov. 3, 2021.
On Nov. 2, they’ll pitch to an international judging panel and exclusive audience of investors, industry leaders and innovators during the Front Runners Travel Tech Summit at ExCeL, London.
The competition attracted interest from 450 start-ups from more than 80 countries and eligible applicants had to complete a three-stage evaluation process, where the judges whittled them down to 10 and then chose three finalists in each category.
The finalists are:
In the Hospitality of the Future category, Hotelmize, a UK-based fintech-travel start-up that offers revenue-boosting cutting-edge technology products to the travel industry., is up against Pruvo, an Israeli AI-driven solution that helps travel companies increase profitability by leveraging price fluctuation that occurs in the hotel industry.and Singapore-based Stayr, a real-time booking platform that allows consumers to book spaces by the hour.
In the Experiences Revolution category, Clio Muse Tours is a storytelling app that enables accredited professionals from culture and tourism to create and distribute self-guided audio tours through a global network of online travel agencies and museums. The Greece-based company is up against Community Homestay Network, a tourism value chain that creates job opportunities and improve livelihoods and offers authentic local experiences in Nepal and sustainable tourism company Natoure, based in Mexico with a mission of “Healing nature while traveling.”
In the Smart Mobility category, MOTIONTAG, from Germany, is a mobility analytics company focusing on solving the climate challenge by providing green incentive programs and granular mobility insight for smart cities. The company is competing with Swiss sustainable mobility solution ShareP solving the problem of parking and EV charging within existing parking infrastructure. and Thrust Carbon, a UK company that reports, reduces, and removes travel emissions through their multi award-winning carbon intelligence platform.
The judging panel consists of: Evantia Giumba, Director at Amadeus Launchpad, EMEA; Alex Cruz, former British Airways and Vueling Chairman & CEO and now a Senior Tourism Specialist; Aradhana Khowala, CEO & Founder, Aptamind Partners; Liz Ortiguera, Chief Executive Officer, PATA and Elena Cholakova, Head of Innovation projects, WTFL.
