Vietnamese Startup Ecohost had recently won second prize in Region Travel Startup competition organized by MIST. Ecohost which received an innovation grant of US$5,000 enables quality tourism experiences in the Vietnamese countryside, working village-by-village to develop tours and activities while improving the capacity of rural homestays to serve international guests. We spoke to Bui Thi Nhan who is the Founder – Director of Ecosea Travel. The company is a member of Responsible Travel Club ( RTC ) In Vietnam.
You started Ecohost in July 2018, since then how the journey has been
We are now setup the Ecohost quality and which is not open to guests yet. However, for the tours to the destinations we have guests also and our guests are staying in the normal home-stays and experiencing the local taste. Ecohost accommodation is on the way to be completde and will be opening in January 2019.
In picture, one of the happy customers of Ecohost
How was your experience of participating in MIST?
MIST is great program with us because we have a great chance to learn alot and connect with many people on the Tourism industry and big network – where we can connect together and learn more about there tecknology and solution for our website.
Currently, you’re active in which all cities in Vietnam?
We are now setting Ecohost in Nam Dinh Province, Bac Ninh Provin and Duong Lam – Sơn Tay – Hanoi. Our website and platform is on the verge of completion and I hope website content will soon be available for booking in Jan 2019.
What was the idea of starting a sustainable tourism startup.
All of our founders are member of RTC club so we put the main sustainable’s criteria in the top to-dos in design and setup for Ecohost amenities, and all the activities for our guests will be notice to the guests.
How is the startup ecosystem in Vietnam like?
Very difficult because we lack many things, from technology to the financial, but with the good idea and support from a lot of travel companies, we hope that, we will have more success in the near future.
Your business model seems to be competing with Airbnb
ECOHOST is not the same as AirBnb. We are similar to OYO rooms but we have more activities for the village, package tours for the home-stays and support sales and marketing, with training and control qualities of all the villages being done by us. Airbnb is a channel where we can sales Ecohost and package.
