Romanian startups and projects bringing a fresh take on tourism and travel
From a focus on authentic experiences to customized trips and novel ways of exploring, several Romanian-born tourism and travel startups offer new takes on industry services or cover underserved niches. We outline some of the initiatives…
Simona Fodor · Journalist
· Updated · 4 min read
From a focus on authentic experiences to customized trips and novel ways of exploring, several Romanian-born tourism and travel startups offer new takes on industry services or cover underserved niches. We outline some of the initiatives below.
Questo, a platform for city exploration games for travelers and locals developed by Romanian entrepreneurs, has recently been included in UNTWO's top 100 tourism startups in the travel and tourism industry as one of the companies that can restart the travel industry.
Questo offers city exploration games that enable tourists and locals to discover and learn about a city on their own, guided by the mobile app. While they resemble tours, they act more like real-world adventure games. The users explore destinations by following clues and solving challenges to discover new places and stories.
The Romanian travel startup also received the "Most Disruptive Travel Start-up of 2019 in Hospitality" Award from the UN's World Tourism Organization. Earlier this year, it attracted funding worth USD 1.5 million in an investment round led by Early Game Ventures with Sparking Capital's participation.
Epic Visits defines itself as a "hybrid between a travel agency and a booking platform, spearheading the new wave of experiential tourism." They aim to serve those "underserved when it comes to inspiration" and offer a range of themed accommodation and experiences on a self-service travel platform where travelers can create memorable getaways based on their style and preferences. It could be a wildlife observatory, the coolest experience on the Neversea beach, a cabin in the middle of the wilderness or old traditional Saxon houses.
The platform lists around 10% of the market to focus on the "epic factor," the listings are organized under inspirational categories, and the accommodation and experience are customized to fit people's personal style with the Mix and Match configurator.
Epic Visits was founded by Raluca Jianu, Mihai Bârsan, Bogdan Jianu, and Emanuel Pasat. This July, Romanian entrepreneur Dragoș Anastasiu joined the startup as angel investor and advisor through Touring Eurolines. Other investors in the startup, which is currently aiming to raise EUR 150,000 on Seedblink, are Felix Tătaru (GMP Group), Adrian Țuluca (Propaganda), and Bogdan Tudor (StarTech Team).
