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Traveling is about creating new experiences in life. Learning deeply about each destination will further create lasting impression. It can also lead to income generation for the local communities too. Today, Innovation Thailand will introduce you to Mr. Chaiyanut Kwankonchim, founder of travel platform Tripdio. This is a good innovation of Thailand that creates impressive traveling experiences, while also helping to generate income for local communities.

The Idea that Sparked the Birth of Tripdio

The idea started when I had the opportunity to live in England. I was studying corporate business administration and had the chance to go on field trips and visit various museums and tourist attractions during the semester breaks. I saw cool technology that were used to service travelers and added to the experience. I looked back at Thailand and--being an internationally popular tourist country--I thought that if Thailand has such technology, it would be good. After graduation, I returned home to study the market and thus developed the Tripdio application.

Tripdio Solved The Pain Points of Traveling

Tripdio is a “Storytelling Platform” for tourism that gives tour guides, tourism operators, and local people the ability to create content to tell their stories via videos, pictures, or texts. This solves three pain points: 1) Lack of information. Most tourists want to learn the story and history of the places they visit, but there are no information or tour guides available.; 2) Lack of tour guides. This is due to the instability of tour guides. They work outdoors all the time. They can get tired. They can get sick and lose ability to generate income.; and 3) Lack of readiness. Most tourist areas have limited resources to manage the tourism spots. The location may not be ready. Personnel and equipment to service tourists may be lacking. Tripdio helps fix these 3 areas by allowing tourists to be self-guided through the application. This reduces the cost of service while still giving tourists the ability to learn in-depth about the places they are visiting. This platform is different and stands out from other tourism platforms which are mostly review platform, attraction recommendations, or booking platform for accommodations, tours, activities, and tickets only.

Create Opportunity for Income in Local Communities

We are the platform that provides opportunity for tour guides, tourism operators, and local people to create content to tell their stories and generate income. It will also help to disseminate more information on arts and culture as well as backgrounds on places of interest, to tourists. It will create more interest for tourists in local products and foods, folklores, and ethnic culture. It will also create opportunities for local merchants and people to earn more as well.

Obstacles and Challenges that Risen

Aside from problems and obstacles caused by the COVID outbreak, another challenge for us is the transport infrastructure that does not cover the entire country. This is especially true in small provinces. This makes it difficult for tourists to travel in remote areas. Another issue of concern is safety for tourists. Although most Thais are kind-hearted people, there are some Thais who will take advantage of tourists by raising prices. This will cause tourists to not want to come back to visit again. Despite the challenges, I believe every human has the desire to travel and tourism will never disappear from this earth. Thailand still has many interesting tourism spots and with continuous potential for growth.