An international travel assistance program for India called India Assist launched on World Tourism Day in 60 cities
Launched in 2019, India Assist, a patented start-up, and
showcase recognized by the Government of India, is now back with its
world-class travel assistance services in a B2B avatar for all domestic and
international travelers, intending to create an ecosystem of services linking
hotels. , travel agencies, and airlines.
The two-year global pandemic has forced many companies to change or rethink their products and services. Even tech start-ups are no different. India Assist, an application designed for foreign travelers coming to India, when they need emergency (medical, flight, etc.) or happy (food, shopping, etc.) assistance at their destination, launched towards the end of 2019, had also faced the same existential crisis when the pandemic brought international travel to a complete halt. But “We provided free assistance to more than 3,000 foreign tourists stranded in different destinations during March 2020," says India Founder, Harish Khatri Assist.
The travel startup started with a lot of promise with
Silicon Valley FDIs and had to quickly redesign its services to make them
relevant for new normal-home travel. “Our services have been launched in over
60 Indian cities on World Tourism Day and Nepal Assist is available in over 100
Indian cities by the end of 2022,” Khatri said. He said he believed the B2B
model was the most relevant model for the domestic market in India, given the
huge size and scope of the market. He said various players in the travel
ecosystem, such as travel agents, airlines, hotels, transportation service
providers, etc. work in silos, and therefore travelers are left on their own
when faced with travel issues, whether related to loss of food or luggage, or
medical support or security issues and security, etc.
“By closing systemic gaps and creating a win-win situation
for everyone, we are working towards a win-win outcome. According to Khatri, we
complement the ecosystem and make it more robust rather than competing with
other players. He also added that in the B2B franchise-based model, tour
operators will be both sellers and service providers of India Assist. He said
travel agents are people who recommend airlines, hotels, destinations, ground
transportation, etc. India Assist services can be recommended to their clients
as well. “As an add-on to their services, they can charge a cost or charge a
markup for India Assist,” he said. Starting with travel agents, the company
plans to soon integrate hotels, airlines, and travel insurance. Explaining the
model, Khatri said that a code will be generated as the India Assist service is
sold to a customer and the customer can download the app using this code. If
they need help, they can use it just by tapping the alert buttons on the app.
The location of the traveler is tracked by the app and a trained India Assist
service provider is assigned. Based on the assistance protocol of each
situation, the provider will extend all support so that the traveler feels
comfortable with the situation. Khatri said that the technology solution they
have developed is patented by India Assist and will also cater to global
markets, and to start with, we are also launching our services in Nepal on this
special day.
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