Tripcast
The world holds a treasure trove of interesting travel destinations – Rome, Paris, Hong Kong, and London to name a few. But for every well-known tourist mecca, there are dozens more remote and rarely visited locations that can enchant international travelers with breathtaking landscapes and natural beauty. The only problem is, how do these uncharted destinations get on tourists’ travel itineraries if people don’t know they exist?
Ideator Orlando Franco thinks he has an answer. Recently, Orlando and a few friends took a small drone to a remote location to capture video of the stunning scenery. While reviewing the footage later that day, Franco came up with the idea for Tripcast.
“Tripcast was conceived as a means of inspiring and attracting travelers to visit remote destinations they would not have known about,” said Orlando. “By aggregating remote destinations into one platform, we can deliver a way to capture compelling content that leads to tourists booking for remote destinations.”
What’s the Problem?
Tourist destinations in remote and low-income areas often lack the technology or resources to put themselves on the map for international travelers. Creating digital videos can provide an effective way to reach potential visitors around the globe; however, filming and producing the videos can be an expensive process, often well beyond the financial reach of local entrepreneurs or tourism officials.
What’s the Big Idea?
Tripcast was created to enable video promotion of unique remote tourism destinations by building access to a state-of-the-art digital presence for remote and low-income destinations around the globe. The goal is to leverage a large-scale platform that makes it easy and cost-effective to translate rich media into a window to attract and reach remote destinations. Tripcast also hopes to provide access to funding to strengthen local tourism revenue capabilities.
Tripcast has set some ambitious goals. Within three years, company founders plan to reach 1400 destinations while providing $2.5 million in zero-profit loans to help build local tourism industries.
“The need for remote destinations to find compelling ways to promote their experiences is very clear,” said Orlando. “Many of them offer fascinating cultures and breathtaking landscapes, yet they have no way to promote these to the world. We plan to change that with Tripcast.”
Where Is It Headed?
So far, funding development of an MVP has presented the biggest hurdle for Tripcast. Orlando hopes to solve the issue by using crowdfunding to finance a content film in Peru, and is currently in the midst of designing a campaign. He then must decide to either recruit talent to build the prototype – which features an html5 video interactive web that enables people to watch content of different experiences and select and add to a shopping cart – or outsource it. The pilot will also refine the cost structure for the solution, making it more affordable for remote and low-income destinations.
Tripcast has already lined up a user base that includes destinations on Orlando’s other project, Landspot.
Orlando and his team will visit more than 20 different destinations involving up to 150 communities in Peru to record video content to build out the website.
“Ideator has been very helpful in providing insights and a means to network and share our startup,” said Orlando. “We’re just getting started, but we have great expectations for building our idea.”
Orlando is currently looking for a co-founder skilled in the UX design area, as well as other potential team members. To learn more, visit his Ideator public profile or email him at orlando@projectlandspot.com.
