In the press

Becoming “the Amazon of” any industry is the ambition of many businesses in many verticals.

But not all businesses aspiring to be the “Amazon of x” are anywhere near as successful or as sophisticated as the former B2C-bookseller-turned-B2B-enterprise-technology-giant-and-B2B2C-global-marketplace.

With new capabilities added to the group, Travelier is now a “full stack” surface transportation tech company, with OTA, GDS and TMS, integrated vertically in the ecosystem.

“These results are a testament to the dedication and innovation of our entire team. We are confident that by leveraging our robust network, strategic partnerships, and exceptional leadership, Travelier will continue to revolutionize the travel booking experience for travelers worldwide.”

Travelier sees significant opportunity for growth in online bus ticketing in Brazil with the market generating more than $2 billion annually. While half of all international travel purchases are made online in the country, less than a third (30%) of bus ticket purchases are made online.

In the fast-paced world of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), companies are often faced with a critical decision: Should new acquisitions be fully integrated into the parent company, or should they be allowed to operate with a degree of autonomy?

Many countries do not have online access to vital information like departure times, the number of stops on a route and even whether seats are available. This means travelers must sometimes take a chance on whether a bus is full, on time or even arriving at all – and often in far-flung places.

Ground and sea transportation is a highly valuable yet largely under-the-radar segment of the travel industry. It represents a major market opportunity, yet it still needs to undergo widespread digital transformation to reach its full potential. Lodging, airlines, and experiences tend to dominate the conversation when most people talk about the travel industry. But there’s also a $157 billion sector that receives much less attention — ground and sea transportation.

The travel-tech industry has been undergoing a remarkable transformation, with companies expanding their operations on a global scale. This phenomenon has caught the attention of investors seeking opportunities in a sector poised for substantial growth. In this article, we will delve into the broader trend of travel-tech companies expanding globally and explore the investment potential associated with their impressive expansion efforts.

The days of Pan-Am-style glamour are long gone when it comes to modern air travel. But passengers still want more out of their travel experience than the bare minimum in service, which has prompted many flyers to seek out other viable options.

As people search for modes of travel that consistently deliver on quality, experience and price, the travel industry is waking up to a new transportation reality—one in which airlines may no longer reign supreme.

“In the evolving landscape of land and sea travel, technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the traveler’s experience. Online booking platforms should offer a one-stop solution for comparing and booking bus, ferry, and train tickets, providing information on timetables, prices, and reviews. Contactless payments and check-ins, enabled through digital wallets and mobile apps, streamline transactions and boarding processes, while real-time tracking and notifications keep travelers informed about their journey’s status.”

“The new generative AI search tools can save travellers a lot of time, specifically by providing an alternative to searching across multiple websites to compare options,” said Noam Toister, the CEO and co-founder of Travelier.  “One recent example I can think of comes from a solo trip our COO Omer Chehmer took. He spent weeks meticulously planning a holiday to Iceland. When he returned, we gave ChatGPT the same brief, and it came up with the exact same recommendations and routes, which had taken Omer a significant investment of time to work out on his own.”

Travelier (formerly Bookaway Group), a travel-tech company digitizing land and sea transportation around the world,today announced an overall growth of 150% between H1 2022 and H1 2023.  Attributing the success to global cross brand inventory-sharing initiatives through the Travelier Connect Hub, and additional strategic investments in product, marketing and advancing customer support. Travelier is making headway in its commitment to bridging the gap between local suppliers and travelers worldwide.

Travelier (formerly Bookaway Group), a travel-tech company digitizing land and sea transportation around the world, announced an overall growth of 150% between H1 2022 and H1 2023. Attributing the success to global cross brand inventory-sharing initiatives through the Travelier Connect Hub, and additional strategic investments in product, marketing and advancing customer support. Travelier is making headway in its commitment to bridging the gap between local suppliers and travelers worldwide.

In order to empower travelers to visit new or unfamiliar destinations, the industry should consider leveraging tech-based tools to convince them. For example, embedding innovative digital features into travel services can spotlight fresh destination options and grant clearer access to local services that tourists may not have been aware of or felt too intimidated to navigate on their own.

The travel industry is undergoing a technological transformation with the rise of automation, adaptation, and digitization. Noam Toister, co-founder and CEO at Travelier, says from Natural Language Processing to chatbot-powered services and AI-powered hotel rooms, technology is increasingly being integrated into travel services to provide personalized customer engagement and enhance connectivity between all travel sectors.

The new additions to the team will help to propel Travelier forward with its mission to unify the fragmented ground and sea sector of the travel industry by bridging the gap between offline local suppliers and world travelers who are used to booking travel itineraries online.

“We are thrilled to welcome both Roy and Ron to the Travelier leadership team as we enter a period of accelerated and focused growth,” said Noam Toister, CEO and co-founder of Travelier. “As we continue to bring in the best talent across our subsidiaries, the Travelier brand only stands to benefit from an influx in invaluable industry knowledge as we set our sights on becoming the leader in the land and sea transport travel industry.”

Travelier announced the appointment of Ron Hoffman as Chief Product Officer and Chief Executive Officer of 12GO, a subsidiary of Travelier, and Roy Golding as the Chief Financial Officer of Travelier.

With the fall in venture capital investments removing the background noise, this year’s list of the 50 most promising Israeli startups highlights the companies with a real profit model

The travel tech giant, Travelier (formerly known as Bookaway Group), has announced the launch of its new brand to unify the ground and sea transportation industry. The online platform, which operates worldwide, aims to strengthen its market leadership and transform the travel experience for modern travelers by providing stress-free booking services for train, ferry, and bus tickets worldwide.

Leading travel tech company aims to strengthen its market-leadership transforming ground and sea transportation

Travel tech company aims to strengthen its market-leadership by doubling-down on ground and sea transportation.

“The lack of up-to-date data is the biggest limitation – it’s hard to plan a trip without the knowledge of real-time availability and up-to-date travel options,” said Noam Toister, CEO and co-founder of Bookaway Group, an online platform for managing ground travel services from local transportation suppliers worldwide.

Social media is overflowing with inspiring travel destination posts that feel more authentic and accessible than ever before. It is unsurprising that travellers – especially younger ones – increasingly choose their destinations via this realm. In fact, according to a study from Expedia Group, 84 per cent of Gen Z travellers are likely to plan a trip based on someone else’s vacation photos and social media updates.

“I believe that equity in the workplace stems from equality within the family. Both partners need to be met with equal parental legitimacy. When women are continually expected to remain the primary caregivers, it impinges on how much they are able to achieve in the workplace, even with equal opportunity for career advancement.”

The rise of generative AI tools has led to a technological revolution in the travel industry, with the likes of ChatGPT being at the forefront of this change. With the ability to automate numerous services, from itinerary planning to booking accommodation, travel chatbots like ChatGPT have the potential to transform the way we travel. But is it a good thing?

Committed to empowering a fragmented sector of the travel industry, ground and sea travel, Bookaway Group will now hold over 8,000 operators in its system under a single API, allowing partners, OTA’s, and affiliates, to easily integrate additional transportation services while maintaining full visibility of assets.

Bookaway Group which has a network of digital platforms that connect travelers with ferry, bus and train ticket suppliers, is creating what it says will be the largest global technology hub for ground and sea transportation. The company says it is investing “millions” to make the hub a reality, although it would not provide a specific amount.

“By connecting everyone to a single API, all existing platforms will start sharing in the same language, allowing the hub to be accessible for all of Bookaway Group, as well as for new brands that join the group.”

“We’re focusing on getting the business back post-Covid and scaling really, really fast with our existing operators. The diversity has completely changed, we are much more global this year. Vietnam is currently not in the Top 10 because it’s not fully recovered – it’s only 30% recovered from a tourism point of view.”

What if I told you that to book your next flight or make a hotel reservation, you would need to go to a local shop at an actual address and physically pay in cash?

“Such high-profile recognition motivates us to continue our valuable work digitizing a historically undigitized segment of the travel industry.”

A honeymoon in the Philippines led Noam Toister to found Bookaway, which sells tickets for buses, trains and ferries around the world…

Noa Greenfield has been appointed as VP of Brand and Communication of Bookaway Group, and will lead the brand communications of the group’s subsidiaries worldwide.

AirAsia has added more train, bus, ferry and private transfer travel options to its superapp following a new partnership with 12Go, which is part of the Bookaway Group.

12Go offers instant seat confirmation with the 4,000 operators, covering 50,000 routes across 26 countries in Asia.

Bookway Group’s data trends show a positive reaction to the streamlining of approval processes for the Thai Pass and the lifting of all Covid-19 restrictions in Vietnam as of May 15th, with ground transportation booking rising for both bus and ferry rides. Travelers are arriving predominantly from the UK, retaining its top spot from 2019 (for both Vietnam and Thailand). This upward trajectory comes despite the impact of the Omicron variant, earlier in the year, when volumes were constrained in January and February.

Ground transportation is the glue that connects everything in travel. Technically, it’s a huge task, given how fragmented the market is, but we have found a secret sauce, a method to connect with operators efficiently and quickly and adapt to different regions.

Croatia’s tourism industry is in line for a bumper summer season according to data from Bookaway Group, the world’s leading aggregator of ground transportation. The uplift is evident when looking not only at the volumes of tickets sold by operators in Croatia but also site traffic analysis from across its portfolio of consumer-facing brands.

Bookaway Group wants to make it easy for consumers to search and book ground transport rides online. One of the ways to do so will be via B2B partnerships. “We can grow our B2B business by becoming the go-to API for all travel brands  that want to add ground transport alongside flights and hotels.”

Bookaway Group is active in over 110 countries and 13,000 cities. It offers over 1.5 million travel options from over 7,000 operators, which travelers book through its four consumer-facing brands. The company shared April sales are tracking 50% above 2019 numbers as the travel industry continues to bounce back from the pandemic, the Group intends to accelerate this positive trend.

Bookaway.com is a start-up that aims to make it easier for people to travel across land and sea. with a travel booking platform specifically designed for busses, ferries, and trains. This is achieved by feeding data from offline suppliers and giving them an opportunity to reach their customers digitally.

With a complex task like globalizing ground transport you need local knowledge, technology expertise and industry experience. Bookaway Group has all three and they’re committed to winning this market.”

Bookaway Group wants to make it easy for consumers to search and book ground transport rides. “We expect to continue our acquisition strategy with a view to becoming the only player able to offer complete ground transport inventory globally”.

Bookaway Group intends the cash to be used to accelerate its mission to digitalise the $157 billion ground transportation industry.

The company is solving what it sees as “one of the last remaining problems” in travel technology by making it as easy for travelers to search, shop, book and pay for ground transport as it is for flights or hotels.

Major tourism markets in APAC, including Thailand, are getting back on track as international visitors start to plan their trips again, according to data from Bookaway Group, the world’s leading ground transportation aggregator.

New bus lines from Zagreb to Vienna and Budapest are now available for travelers. This was made possible by the partnership created by GetByBus and NOMAGO,  two leading brands in the the ground transportation industry. All buses are modern and meet the strictest environmental standards, and stand out with an attractive design that represents the two companies. (content in Croatian)

What makes this collaboration more special than the others are the new buses that will provide their passengers with a superior travel experience and a comfortable and safe ride. All buses are equipped with toilets, WIFI network and comply with the highest environmental standards, in order to reduce emissions of harmful substances into the environment. (content in Croatian)

Building a travel-tech Group in the midst of a world pandemic and coming out stronger from the worst crisis that the travel industry has ever seen, to become the largest ground transportation aggregator in the world.

Bookaway Group noted a triple-digit, up 500 percent month-on-month increase in the volume of tickets sold by operators in Thailand between October and December, including domestic travelers.

We have Ukrainian and Russian employees, who’ve worked hand-in-hand for years to bring people together through travel. These days we are busy trying to assure our employees’ well-being and physical safety

Joining the Bookaway Group means the company can expand exponentially faster across the region, complementing the global coverage we already have in Asia and Europe.

Bookaway Group is listed as the #1 player  in the online ground transportation travel, helping operators either sell tickets to international travelers, run their businesses more efficiently with software, or both.

Plataforma 10 partners with more than 400 bus companies in the region and about 2,000 local shops and kiosks. Bookaway Group plans to invest significant capital to help Plataforma 10 expand into new markets.

Bookaway Group, which provides reservation platforms and operational software for intercity bus and ferry operators, recently acquired Plataforma 10, an online travel agency based in Argentina. The ground transportation industry may not seem glamorous, but there are endless opportunities in helping this multi-billion-dollar sector go online.

As things stand, Bookaway Group is already the biggest ground transportation aggregator in the world. “Our ambition has not been reined in by what has happened in the travel industry and the world at large over the past three years – if anything it’s inspired us to be even bolder.

“I recommend 1984 as a must-read to any entrepreneur with a disruptive technology that needs to share a vision and new concepts, to every junior and senior employee who has access to big data or personal information”

David Yitzhaki, Bookaway’s Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder says: “Our partnership with Direct Ferries is a huge step as it will provide more travel options for our customers, particularly across Europe, by connecting them with even more destinations to explore and new ways of travelling.

Founded by travellers, for travellers, Bookaway eradicates stressful aspects of travel by providing travellers with in-depth details about each route’s service, reviews from other travellers and 24/7 support. Bookaway provides the best, most picturesque and sought-after routes in Italy – previously only available to book ‘in-person’ or known by locals.

Today, 7% of a tourist’s expenses are for traveling by land or sea, and the challenge is working with these local, mostly offline companies, and promoting them through us, with all the accurate information.

Noam Toister is CEO and founder of Bookaway Group, an online ground and sea transportation booking group, connecting travelers with local suppliers worldwide, so travelers can easily explore new corners of the world, shares his top tips for working well with investors and navigating change.

Bookway Group’s data trends show a positive reaction to the streamlining of approval processes for the Thai Pass and the lifting of all Covid-19 restrictions in Vietnam as of May 15th, with ground transportation booking rising for both bus and ferry rides. Travelers are arriving predominantly from the UK, retaining its top spot from 2019 (for both Vietnam and Thailand). Thissward trajectory comes despite the impact of the Omicron variant, earlier in the year, when volumes were constrained in January and February.

New data from ground transportation platform Bookaway Group
shows bookings in Thailand have increased by 123% month on month since the reopening announcement on 11 October, compared with 43% in September and 22% in August.

Noam Toister, CEO and founder Bookaway Group, the biggest ground transportation group worldwide, shares his insight into some of the struggles and challenges of becoming a manager for the first time, and how to avoid common leadership mistakes.

In only four years, Bookaway has transformed from a small-scale start-up to world leading ground transportation company. “Local transport suppliers are being left behind the rest of the online travel industry. We  aim to fix this disconnect between global travelers and the local ground and sea transport providers.

As the majority of the ground transportation industry is offline, travelers waste precious time and money trying to navigate their journey on the ground, having booked their flights, hotel, and experiences online

In July 2021, the Bookaway Group became the biggest global ground and sea transportation group, it was founded to expand the Bookaway network and provide access to even more destinations across the world.

“Currently, 95 percent of the ground transportation industry is offline,” said Noam Toister, CEO and founder of Bookaway. “Our mission is to make bus, train, or ferry travel an effortless booking experience.”

In only four years, Bookaway has transformed from a small-scale start-up to world leading ground transportation company. “Local transport suppliers are being left behind the rest of the online travel industry. We  aim to fix this disconnect between global travellers and the local ground and sea transport providers.

Matias Elisavetsky joins Bookaway Group and will help achieving the group’s mission to modernize the ground and sea transportation industry by supporting local, independent transport suppliers around the world.

Even in 2021, the positive surprises by the local tech companies seem to have no end! Namely, the local company GetByBus was bought by the Israeli giant and thus became the first platform for booking land and sea transport to join the Bookaway Group!

New data from ground transportation platform Bookaway Group
shows bookings in Thailand have increased by 123% month on month since the reopening announcement on 11 October, compared with 43% in September and 22% in August.

A new collection of consumer-facing travel brands – known as the Bookaway Group – has been created following an investment round valued at $35 million.

Bookaway offers ground transportation options for travelers in developing countries where content is fragmented and few suppliers have made their inventory available online.

12Go Asia Headquartered in Singapore with its main operation in Bangkok, 12Go Asia works on both the B2B and B2C side for online ticketing for inter-city bus, train, ferry, transfers, flights, and hotels.

Last week, local NGO CEDRA Split launched a new incubator in style at Hotel Cornaro. Over 70 people came to hear about the new initiative for young people to learn business skills before developing their own business.