Sonu Sood launches rural B2B travel tech platform

Mumbai: Bollywood actor Sonu Sood launched Travel Union, India's first rural B2B travel tech platform, on Friday.

This initiative will democratize travel services by providing a platform to Travel Union members towards serving the travel needs of rural customers at every district, block and gram panchayat level, a press release said.

With a mission to support, digitally empower and build a leading travel agent business community in rural India at zero investment, the travel tech platform aims to be the largest rural digital travel services platform serving the one billion population in India.

At the rural level, the travel sector has been largely unorganized with no player focusing on the needs of Indians in tier 2 towns and villages. Travel Union addresses multiple unfulfilled needs of rural travel agents, small business owners and enterprises, called Travel Union Members, the primary one being the absence of travel-tech platforms designed for rural travel at the core, the release added.

On the occasion of the launch, SonuSood, said: "During the lockdowns, I had first-hand experience of the challenges that rural Indians face when it comes to travel as well as the struggles of small business owners."

"The lack of tailored offerings catering to the needs of Bharat and addressing digital needs of rural citizens stayed with me. In fact, currently rural consumers have no option to pre-plan their travel and have to run to multiple operators for different kinds of travel needs. I envisioned Travel Union so that we can remove all barriers to travel and give an entrepreneurial opportunity to anyone in the nation who wants to start a career in travel industry," he added.