JACLYN’S IDEA: Ecomadic - a curated marketplace & magazine for sustainable travel
Looking for passionate individuals who can help us scale our operations, fundraising, and tourism partnerships
+ What is your name?
Jaclyn Yost
+ Are you submitting as a team or as an individual?
Individual submission
+ Where are you located?
The United States
+ In one sentence, tell us about your idea.
Ecomadic is a curated marketplace for local & sustainable tourism businesses (with social and/or environmental missions in place) that offers a community of sustainably-minded travelers and like-minded responsible businesses; B2B services (i.e. marketing, tech); revenue growth via booking transactions; itinerary builders; consumer communication tools & community calendars; and an online green travel magazine aimed to empower travelers to make more impactful decisions with their tourism dollars.
+ Describe your ideal collaborative partner or partners.
Passionate individuals who share the same vision for the sustainable tourism industry that could step in, balance out my weaknesses with their strengths, and collaboratively bring ecomadic to the next level - scaling via assistance with fundraising, operations, and sales/partnerships.
+ What is the most immediate or most pressing challenge you're facing right now?
Currently, we need the most assistance in 3 areas (which all go hand-in-hand):
- Fundraising, to support our team, platform and business development, and marketing/advertising.
- Operations, onboarding processes and how to best smoothly bring new partners onto our platform and off of the older industry GDS platforms.
- Sales/partnerships, scaling via partnering with tourism boards, organizations, and tourism related experiences & accommodations.
+ What is it about your idea that makes you feel good?
Ecomadic directly supports local businesses and connects them with like-minded travelers. Through our business operations, we make sustainable tourism fair, accessible, and inclusive to all stakeholders. We aim to make an impact and reshape the entirety of the industry - changing the way that people travel in order to leave a positive environmental, socio-cultural, and economic impact through travel.
We don't have much time left on this Earth to turn things around - sustainable tourism is a HUGE industry. By facilitating sustainable decisions, ecomadic can leave a big impact on the world and help in the fight against climate change! We are slowly approaching a time where it is truly now or never.
+ What makes your idea innovative? Why has no one ever done it before?
"There are no original ideas, only original executions." One of my advisors once told me this & it is one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received.
Throughout the past 4 years, I have interviewed countless others who have looked into building something similar. What makes ecomadic unique is that we offer all the same tech features of an OTA, consolidate and expand on booking and platform functionality tools, and expose them to a market of like-minded travelers via unique and digestible content and millennial targeted branding.
Lastly, as we are building our community from the ground up, we have the large (& sometimes daunting task) of onboarding companies organically. Quite often I am given the advice to connect with OTA APIs, however in order to keep our platform credible and trustworthy, building up organically is the best way that we can ensure all companies fit within our standards, as well as are treated ethically (unlike by the traditional OTAs & GDS). I do have faith in this model as it goes in line with our sustainability ethos - while it may take longer, it will pay off in the long run.
While there are others out there who have attempted to build similar versions, there aren't many out there who have been researching best practices for 4 years , unwilling to take short cuts by sacrificing values, as well as working to connect with millennial consumers. We are new, fresh, trendy, and understand the market and what is needed to be successful in this space; we just need some assistance with operations, fundraising, and sales/partnerships!
+ Who will benefit the most from your idea?
Local businesses & sustainably-minded travelers - millions of people from all over the world!
+ Ideally, when would you launch this idea?
In a few weeks
+ Indicate which UN goals your idea relates to?
Life Below Water Decent Work and Economic Growth Sustainable Cities and Communities Life on Land Responsible Consumption and Production
+ At Sigmund, we are interested in ideas at the intersection of People, Planet, and Profit. How does your idea relate to these three categories?
Ecomadic supports the intersection of people, planet, and profit via travel by focusing on the three pillars ~
Environmental: focuses on reducing negative impacts on the environment and wildlife. This includes minimizing our carbon footprint from air travel; being mindful of water and energy usage; avoid plastic and excess waste; and keeping safe distances and not disturbing wildlife.
Socio-Cultural: our impact on local people and communities. Traveling can help to preserve culture as it can create an increase in cross cultural interaction; understanding, maintaining, and keeping local culture, arts, crafts, and traditions; empowering host communities; and strengthening cultural values.
Economic: using our money to positively contribute to the local economy. As tourists, we should spend our tourism dollars at locally-run accommodations, eateries, shops, and experiences (better yet with environmental & social missions in place!) as much as possible in order to keep money in host communities and strengthen economic activity in the destination.
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