Trying to figure out your new business idea? Struggling to find the right market for your next startup? It might be time to go on vacation.
Cross a pass in Nepal |
We started a six-month sabbatical in March that has been entirely focused on adventure travel. So far we’ve trekked the Himalayas, rafted the Karnali river in Nepal, climbed the Simien Mountains in the Ethiopian Highlands, relaxed on beaches in Zanzibar and explored post-war Northern Sri Lanka. It’s been life-changing and I always find myself thinking about the vast potential for improving the experience of adventure travel.
The outbound travel market from North America and Europe alone is in the tens of billions of dollars. Many trips are organized through domestic agencies at home and implemented by local operators abroad.
The vast majority of agencies and operators have less than one million dollars in revenue
annually. Combine this extreme fragmentation with the massive market size and
you’ve got an industry ripe for disruption.
Snorkel in Zanzibar |
I recently stumbled across two startups doing very
interesting things in the adventure market. Zozi is building a platform that
allows you to discover and book your next local or international adventure with
ease. They have a strong front end for discovery and a network of trusted
operators to book through. What’s particularly intriguing is their Guru
program. Essentially they line up cool adventures with outdoor celebrities: go
on a run with Dean Karnazes or learn survival skills with Bear Grylls. This
should help bump their visibility and drive a lot of traffic and referrals to
their platform. Indie BootsnAll has built an easy-to-use system for booking
long-term, multi-leg flights with local airlines all over the world, something
that typical flight booking sites simply suck at. Nulu is developing a suite of
kickass language-learning tools so you can chat up locals on your next sojourn.
Know of anyone else doing crazy cool things in the adventure market? Let me
know in the comments section below!
But these are just the beginning. A fragmented market this
big needs dozens of new entrants
turning the status quo upside down. There’s room to play for everyone. In five
years we’ll see a very different market for adventure, one that will still be
evolving at an extraordinarily rapid pace. So pack your bags and find a good
problem to solve. Who doesn’t want to summit Everest and make a buck at the
same time?