Find Responsible Tourism Resources in One Place at Travindy

Anula Galewska, Co-Founder and CEO of Travindy, helps travel industry professionals keep up to date with innovations, insights and issues shaping a truly sustainable future for tourism.

Anula is part of our Travel Massive Berlin chapter and has shared her helpful tips to starting up a business in the responsible tourism industry. Find out more about Travindy below.

Who is your startup for?

Travindy is for tourism industry professionals who are interested in corporate responsibility, sustainability and responsible tourism management. The majority of our readers consists of small and medium tour companies, accommodation providers and tourism consultants. By partnering with universities, we hope to become a valuable source of information also for tourism students.

What gap did you find in the travel industry that inspired you to create this startup?

I heard about “responsible tourism” for the first time at World Travel Market in London several years ago. After WTM, I came back home and wanted to learn more. I started scanning the web, collecting news and useful links by myself. I bought a domain responsibletourismnews.com and kept posting all these resources there. I was doing it for my own learning without any business plan. In the meantime, Jeremy Smith (now Travindy’s Editor) was facing exactly the same problem and suggested collaboration.

We soon rebranded to Travindy, which sounds lighter and fresher. We will be celebrating Travindy’s 1st birthday this May!

How did you build your startup?

We are a self-funded team of five people, located in 4 different countries (Germany, UK, Spain and Chile) and managed online via Slack. Our main focus now is increasing traffic and enriching our content to attract a wider audience.

We are always looking for good stories – if you have one, let us know and we will be happy to publish it. We also offer internship opportunities, for those who are self-driven, fast-learning and obviously passionate about tourism.  

What makes your startup different from other similar startups out there?

We help tourism professionals deal with information overload and lack of time. You no longer have to search the web for daily news, articles, events and responsible tourism resources. We do it for you and serve the most valuable pieces in an easy to digest way.

Travindy is now available also in Spanish, which is possible thanks to our great Spanish-speaking team: Pablo Pereira Doel, Angela Rodriques and Gabriela Alvarado.

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

To spread the word and increase traffic, we signed partnerships with several organisations including The International Ecotourism Society, Wild Asia and Leeds Beckett University. We also have several informal “Travindy ambassadors”, who promote our brand in their networks just because they value what we do. Word of mouth along with organic search and social media referrals is where majority of our readers come from.

How is your startup changing the future of the industry or helping to make travel better?

By sharing news, resources and promoting all the good things that happen in tourism, we aim to inspire and encourage travel businesses to improve their policies and on the ground operations. We want to show that sustainability management is not an expensive rocket science but simple ideas that can be implemented by anyone.

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

Keep asking yourself a question: What would you do if you were not afraid?

As a startup, what benefits have you seen from being a part of Travel Massive meetups?

We are organisers of the “Responsible Tourism Networking” chapter on Travel Massive. This not only increases our brand visibility but also lets us engage with people interested in responsible tourism and better understand their needs.

Travel Start-Up is a monthly series that profiles unique online travel start-ups in the Travel Massive community around the world. Connect with Anula and Travindy on Travel Massive, Facebook and Twitter.