Glossopolis Embraces Linguistic Tourism

Read all about the CEO and Founder, Athina Pitta as she explains her tips behind the business of travel startups.

Athena is part of our Travel Massive Athens chapter and founded Glossopolis to help travellers to live unique travel experiences through language interaction with locals. 

Who is your startup for?

‘’Speak Greek and get discounts on local businesses’’ is the new trend we bring into the travel market. It is designed for travelers who want to live a unique experience by communicating with locals, visit off the beaten path places and receiving rewards during their holidays. Once users sign into the platform, they have access to their language content and to a series of advertisements for local businesses such as bars, taxis, restaurants, etc. When they visit the relevant businesses, show Glossopolis voucher to the staff and order or buy in Greek they get a discount as a reward for their effort.

What is your startup about?

Glossopolis is a travel platform that rewards travelers with discounts at local shops when they order or buy in Greek. The idea started when I visited France for the first time, I felt so proud of myself when I was ordering or buying things in French. Later on, this feeling grew as I visited other, more exotic, countries and I realized how amazing it feels to immerse yourself into such culture. The idea is supporting Greek local businesses while allowing for amazing travel experiences together. 

How is your startup disrupting the travel scene today? 

This ‘’Speak the local language and get discounts’’ concept is unique and our biggest advantage is that we help create a win-win situation for all. Travellers learn the basics of a language through our platform, they know the best places to visit, and they get discounts so they save money during their trips while they have a gamified experience! Greek local businesses have a new customer channel and are supported by our service.

How did you get your startup off the ground and gaining traction?

We cooperated with well-known travel businesses that promoted our service to their clients so our platform reached its target group efficiently. Being part of networks is helping our business find the right partners so as to make the best synergies.  

Do you have any tips for new entrepreneurs who want to create a successful startup?

Think big, work bigger. Luck helps the ones who are ready, so focus on your goal, have faith, be persistent and make failures your best advisors.

How is your Travel Massive meet-up experience?

I was honored to be invited as a speaker to its first event in Athens on November 27th and talk about ‘’Responsible Tourism’’. It was a very well organized event, with very good network possibilities and amazing speakers. I really believe that Travel Massive is an excellent tool for travel professionals and I highly recommend that everyone join the platform and become a member of this vivid community.

Travel Start-Up is a monthly series that profiles unique online travel start-ups in the Travel Massive community around the world. Connect with Glossopolis via Travel Massive, Facebook and Twitter. To learn more about Athina, visit the following video links: Linguistic Tourism, TEDxNTUA.