The Singapore Tourism Board has created an accelerator program for travel startups. Nine companies are participating so far.
The initiative, which is being jointly run by the Singapore Tourism Board and startup community Found8, sees the companies spend six months helping tourism businesses improve productivity, put together visitor engagement strategies and enhance the experience for visitors.
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The nine companies, chosen from 160 applications, include Singapore-based Infinito which helps hotels devise and implement pricing strategies by using artificial intelligence.
Other companies include Australian company Plattar, which provides templates to help attraction owners create augmented reality experiences without the need for a developer.
A number of local companies including Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and Resorts World Sentosa are already involved which will act as testbeds for the products and services from the startups.
An assessment is planned for December to gauge whether the companies are ready to move to the pilot phase of their services.
At that point, those selected will be given funding of up to $25,000 for their pilot.
A further three companies are being selected to join the existing nine which, in addition to those mentioned above, include Delight Labs, Bakuun, Good for Food, Oaky, FirstHive, EATLAB and RepUp.
Poh Chi Chuan, director, digital transformation, Singapore Tourism Board, says: “Through the Singapore Tourism Accelerator, we aim to grow and adapt these solutions to address the specific needs of Singapore’s tourism sector, and help our stakeholders stay ahead of the competition.”
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