Travel Start-Up: The Alternative Travel Guide & The Backpacker Experience

This month in our series, The Travel Start-Up we feature Katrina Mitchell, founder of the travel start-up, The Alternative Travel Guide which is helping to make travel easier for the traveling backpacker by offering locally-sourced travel maps. We caught up with this Scottish runaway in Canada.

What is your connection to the travel industry?

I create city maps at The Alternative Travel Guide that are aimed specifically at the travelling backpacker. I work in a hostel in Toronto and I blog for the backpackers network for Canada called Backpackers Hostels Canada. I am also the co-founder and a co-organizer of the Ottawa Travel Massive chapter.

What is an alternative travel guide?

An alternative travel guide goes beyond the tourist sights. The maps I design help make travel easier for the backpack traveller. The Alternative Travel Guide gives backpackers a better experience in a city by showing them its alternative side (compared to more traditional guide books). The guides offer budget-friendly things to do and places to go from recommendations by locals who live there.

Why did you create this start-up?

From working in hostels, I became disappointed that people were missing out on the local experience due to a lack of targeted information available to them. I used similar maps myself when I backpacked Europe so I understand the benefit.

I want people to see the alternative side of a city when they go there, make great memories and avoid the tourist traps in most places.

What makes your start-up different?

The organization is not-for-profit – everyone who works on our map projects are volunteers driven by the passion for travel and helping people travel better.

The map also provides a new marketing tool for local businesses featured in it as it reaches a very targeted market. The best part of this – when travellers buy an alternative travel guide they are helping to support local businesses.

Your start-up is not just for backpackers but also travel companies. How can travel companies benefit?

Backpackers can benefit by having a better experience in a city using the Alternative Travel Guide maps but travel businesses are also finding our maps helpful.

Hostels benefit from the map as they spend less time having to explain the same things over and over again such as where to find the nearest supermarket, liquor store, or cheapest place to eat in the area.

Local businesses also benefit as it has been shown that people stay longer and send more on average in a city using this type of travel resource.

What are the biggest challenge(s) you would like to see resolved or improved in the online travel industry?

There is a lack of backpacker specific travel resources. I think this is because backpacking is a budget-conscious style of travel so businesses see limited profits in this niche.

Backpacker hostels for example, often struggle to raise the funds required to provide their services. Sometimes they rely on the support of sponsors, volunteers, or lower paid-workers to run the website, tours, or operations. This is frustrating as hostels have the ability to make or break a backpacker’s holiday and it would be great for them to have more support in creating better experiences for these types of travelers.

What are your travel goals?

I hope to run more backpacker events in Canada. I am also running my crowdfunding campaign for the #OttawaMap. Funds raised will go to the cost of printing 30,000 maps (enough for one year) and distributing these maps. I’m also aiming to digitalize the current #OttawaMap to make it a more useable resource for travellers going to Ottawa and to create more reach for the product.  I created a similar map in Glasgow, where I used to live, and I intend to create more maps for other cities.

But if we’re talking personal goals, I want to get permanent residency in Canada! I am originally from Scotland, and moved to Ottawa to get experience in hostel management. My ultimate aim is to own my own hostel one day. I travelled round the world for 2 years. I lived and working in NZ and Australia but always wanted to explore Canada.

Do you have any tips for new entrepreneurs who want to create a successful start-up?

Get advice and seek feedback! It’s hard to take it all on by yourself. Travel Massive events are a great way to meet people that are interested in the same thing as you. I think one of the best influences I’ve had in my career was to have a mentor, in fact I’m actively looking for one hence another reason for me to attend Travel Massive events.

If you could book a ticket tomorrow, where would you go?

Can I take a round the world ticket? I definitely want to visit Philadelphia because it’s always sunny in Philadelphia. Bari, Italy is also at the top of my list. I helped edit a backpacker map for this city and now want to explore it even more!

 ***

The Travel Start-Up is a monthly series that profiles unique online travel start-ups in our Travel Massive community around the world. Follow Katrina on Travel Massive.