Booking.com Announces the 10 Award Recipients of its 2018 Accelerator Program for Startups in Sustainable Tourism
Amsterdam (ots/PRNewswire)
Indian Startups Sakha and Global Himalayan Expedition are awarded the highest grants from Booking.com's EUR2 million fund
Today Booking.com, one of the world's largest e-commerce companies and digital technology leader, announced the 10 sustainable tourism startups receiving scaling grants as part of its 2018 Booking Booster accelerator program. After three weeks of workshops and intensive coaching sessions led entirely by Booking.com employees and experts, the program culminated in a final pitch to receive grants of up to EUR500k from Booking.com's EUR2 million fund in order to help support the next stage of the startups' projected growth.
The 10 teams of finalists pitched their scaling plans to a live audience and panel of expert judges in Amsterdam, with Indian startups Sakha Consulting Wings: Women on Wheels (http://sakhaconsultingwings.com/our-programmes-2/women-on-wheels/) and Global Himalayan Expedition (http://www.ghe.co.in/) being awarded this year's highest grants of EUR325k and EUR400k respectively. Sakha Consulting is a unique social enterprise, launched to offer safe transport solutions for women by women in selected cities in India, providing livelihoods with dignity through professional driving opportunities to resource-poor women as part of the 'Women on Wheels' (WOW) initiative. Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) organizes impact expeditions to provide clean energy and digital education access to the remote mountain communities of the Himalayas, helping to put them on the map for future travelers to explore.
"The vision and passion that we've seen from all the startups this year has been truly inspiring," said Gillian Tans, President and CEO of Booking.com. "I was especially impressed with Wheel the World's moving mission to empower people with disabilities to explore the world within the adventure travel sector, Sakha's commitment to empowering women in India to take control of their livelihoods and of course with how GHE is literally bringing light to remote mountain villages through their Himalayan expeditions. We're all looking forward to seeing how their plans unfold over the coming weeks and months as we work together to bring their vision for a more sustainable travel industry to even more destinations worldwide."
To read the full release and for more information on each of the startups, please visit Booking.com's global media room (https://globalnews.booking.com/bookingcom-announces-the-10-award-recipients-of-its-2018-accelerator-program-for-startups-in-sustainable-tourism/).
About Booking.com:
Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com B.V. has grown from a small Dutch start-up to one of the largest travel e-commerce companies in the world. Part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), Booking.com now employs more than 17,000 employees in 198 offices in 70 countries worldwide.
With a mission to empower people to experience the world, Booking.com invests in digital technology that helps take the friction out of travel. At Booking.com, we connect travelers with the world's largest selection of incredible places to stay, including everything from apartments, vacation homes, and family-run B&Bs to 5-star luxury resorts, tree houses and even igloos. The Booking.com website and mobile apps are available in 43 languages, offer over 28 million total reported listings and cover more than 130,000 destinations in 228 countries and territories worldwide.
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