- Alike.io is looking to invest US$ 1.25 million during the launch year of its operation in India
Gurugram, August 2022: Travel tech group kitmytrip has recently announced the entry of its flagship offering Alike.io – the world’s first creator economy-based travel tech platform – in India. The newly launched platform aims to establish a new way of sharing, discovering, planning and booking travel itineraries, curated by travel content creators or influencers.
Delighted with the launch, Ashish Sidhra, Co-Founder of Alike.io said “Bringing Alike.io to India is an emotional homecoming for us and we cannot wait to connect India’s massive inbound, outbound and domestic traveller market with the large number of awesome travel content creators on our innovative platform”.
India is home to one of the largest communities of content creators. Despite sharing creative content on digital platforms, they still lack the tools and incentives to properly monetise their efforts and earn a fair income for their work. Alike.io capitalises on the opportunity by bringing these creators on a single platform and empowering them with a personal selling space and advanced digital tools. It is the first endeavour in the global travel industry where the platform shares part of its booking revenue with the travel content creators.
Alike.io has partnered with over 12k suppliers across 200 destinations that provide content creators instant access to a vast inventory of bookable, global trip attractions, tours, experiences, and other travel services without the hassle of finding, negotiating, and contracting with global travel experience partners. As part of the launch, the platform has added 10 most loved destinations in India and plans to ramp up additional tourist destinations across India
“For long the Indian Travel Content Creators have competed for a finite number of brand association deals, significantly limiting their revenue earning opportunities. This changes with the launch of Alike.io, as it empowers the Creators to earn a revenue share of the bookings they influence and, in the process, become self-reliant,” said Ashish Sidhra, Co-Founder of Alike.io.
The newly launched travel tech platform brings in huge benefits the Indian traveller. While about 86% of Indian travels research about their trip online, only 50%-60% of travel bookings happen via online platforms. Lack of trust and search for cost-effective packages drives the Indian traveller to still book via offline channels. Alike.io aims to address these issues by combining trusted travel advice from content creators, improved digital booking experience, negotiated prices from experience providers, stable technical performance and seamless customer service.
Starting with Dubai, the travel tech platform has successfully grown its presence in UAE and UK. Following its launch in the Indian market, Alike.io strives to ambitiously grow its existing teams in Delhi NCR, Gujarat, and Kerala to fuel its growth in India and support its global operations.
To lead Alike.io’s South Asia expansion, the platform has appointed Nazeeb Ahmad to the senior management team, to focus on partnerships with large D2C brands, travel partners and experience providers across India and Asia. An IIT Mumbai Alumnus, Nazeeb brings hands on experience of leading a travel business in India, setting up companies and teams, forging partnerships’ and driving business growth.
“As we get ready for our India launch, I am excited to welcome Nazeeb to the kitmytrip family. His hands-on entrepreneurial experience in the travel industry and deep understanding of gaps between traveller needs and current travel offerings gives us an edge, as Alike.io expands across South Asia”, Ashish added. In a short span, Alike.io has collaborated with global industry players including, Zomato, Dubai Tourism, SBI Card and Onevasco. Alile.io is in advance talks for other major partnerships in India as it looks to spend US$ 1.25 million during the launch year of its operation in India.
