Actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood today launched India’s first rural B2B travel tech platform,

Travel Union, which aims at serving the travel needs of rural customers in every district, block and gram panchayat.

Travel Union will onboard rural travel agents, small business owners and enterprises. These members will be supported and digitally empowered to build a leading travel business community in rural India with zero investment. There would be no recurring cost post onboarding either.

If any member prefers to purchase an IRCTC agent ID, this cost will also get refunded over time upon successful transactions, making their ID eventually free. Travel Union aims to bridge the gap at the rural level as the travel sector is largely unorganised in tier-2 towns and villages.

As a travel platform aggregator, it will show all available price options -- airlines, trains, hotels, trips, etc. at the lowest prices for their customers. The platform also allows online cancellations and refunds. As a one-stop shop for rural travel agents, they get access to trains, over 500 domestic and international flights, 10,000-plus bus operators and 10 lakh plus hotels.

Sonu Sood said, “Rural consumers do not have an option to pre-plan their travel and are forced to interact with multiple operators. This was more pronounced at the time of the lockdown as I had first-hand experience. With Travel Union catering to rural travel agents, the chances of earning an income, the business opportunities and potential to grow for the aspiring rural youth is high.”

The Travel Union app is presently available in Hindi and English. The team will be launching it in 11 regional languages. There will also be offers such as domestic and international holiday and travel packages, visa, and forex as well as travel and luggage accessories.

First Published:Aug 6, 2021 4:14 PM IST