Leader of the Pack: Sergey of St. Petersburg

Hello Travel Massive community!

We love how this community has grown from a small meet up in Sydney in 2009 to more that 16 countries all over the world. And we are still growing!

Travel Massive is a world-wide community to connect, share, and learn with like-minded travel bloggers, travel start ups, established travel companies, and travel media.

We would love for all of us to connect and share insights into what is going on in your part of the world  and the events you are organizing.  We also want hear what you think will be the future of the travel industry.

So we thought it was time we start a blog to keep our world-wide community up to date with what’s happening in the travel massive community, including member interviews, event guides, and event news.

Our first post is from St. Petersburg Travel Massive co-organizer Sergey Zadyraka. Sergey is a 27 year old entrepreneur from Russia. He loves surfing and snowboarding and that’s the reason why he’s founded rangeup.com – a marketplace for outdoor activities where he’s currently the CEO. They offer exciting and breathtaking outdoor tours and activities around the world such as surfing in Morocco, trekking to Annapurna in Nepal, snow camping in Austria and yachting in the Red sea.

How did you hear about Travel Massive?

I learned about the meetup from a facebook group about Russian travel start-ups. It quickly grew to an offline meeting in Moscow and it was good idea.

Why did you want to create a Travel Massive in St Petersburg?

We wanted to share the experience with travel industry representatives in our city. Travel Massive is also a great way to meet potential business partners. Moreover we all agree that travel massive is a lot of fun.

What’s the online travel industry like in St Petersburg?

Nowadays, travel industry in our city is actively developing. Some travel industry leaders have appeared. They are really in demand and well-known: aviasales.ru, oktogo.ru among others.

What companies are based there?

It’s common for companies to launch in St Petersburg and then move to Moscow and leave branch offices or their development team in St Petersburg. The most active participants of Travel Massive Petersburg events are the following companies: rangeup.com, sptnik.com, deliveride.com, mowings.ru, yaturistka.ru, gdehostel.ru, sletat.ru, cheaptrip.ru, gelpme.com, excursia.eu/en, www.hotels.ru.

What travel startup companies are based in St Petersburg?

Most of the companies I’ve mentioned in the previous question are start up companies. Besides those, there are 3-5 newly founded companies that are gaining popularity.

I have also founded travel start-up called rangeup.com. It’s a marketplace for active traveling and outdoor activities such as surfing, snowboarding, diving, camping and so on. Travel Massive events inspire me to find new ways of developing our tours and company as well as grow my network.

What are some of the trends and innovations coming out of Russia?

First of all, we are trying to make travel cheap and affordable for everyone. Besides that, there is a trend of independent trips which is gaining more popularity in our country. We also try to combine sports and travelling.

How is St Petersburg different to Moscow for doing business in the travel industry?

Actually these two cities interact closely, that’s why we don’t have differences that strike the eye. But because of the proximity to the European Union and being part of Russia in the same time, St. Petersburg differs with its atmosphere.

What are your top 5 favorite travel websites?

I’m inspired by: couchsurfing, airbnb, aviasales.ru, getyourguide and turbina.ru.

Where are you planning to travel to next?

We are currently organizing a snow camp in Georgia and I’m planning to go there in March next year for snowboarding.

If you go to any travel massive in the world it would be Travel Massive in

New York.

Leader of the pack is a monthly series that profiles organizers of Travel Massive meet-ups around the world!