ShareTrip celebrates 3 years of excellence along with a 5 Crore Investment from Startup Bangladesh Limited4 min read
The country’s largest and leading online travel agent (OTA) ShareTrip has celebrated its 3rd anniversary together with its partner and stakeholder organizations through a grand award ceremony, said a press release. The event was held at Hotel Sheraton Dhaka on August 07, where ShareTrip handed over prestigious accolades to numerous deserving market players from industries related to travel and tourism as an amiable gesture for the extended support and contribution each made in 2020-2021. This is the very first time in the travel industry, that an agent is giving awards to its suppliers and industry partners.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP, Honorable State Minister, ICT Division, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, graced the event as the Chief Guest. Sami Ahmed, Managing Director, Startup Bangladesh Ltd. also attended the event as Special Guest. ShareTrip’s Co-Founder and CEO Sadia Haque and Founder Kashef Rahman were present during the event.
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The appreciation and award program recognized the efforts of the partners under categories like Exemplary Performing Airline in South Asia, South-East Asia, Americas, Europe, Oceania, Middle East, and Central Asia regions, and Bangladesh. Leading Campaign Partner, Leading Transaction Partner, Best Commercial Partner, Best Payment Gateway Partner, and Best Performing Agent were among the award winners. and many more. In addition, to understand customers’ preferences, based on a 3-day survey with more than 10,000 responses, ShareTrip also arranged a People’s Choice Category for the Airline and Hotel Industry.
Startup Bangladesh Limited, the flagship venture capital company of ICT Division, decided to back the leading OTA in Bangladesh, making it the very first one in the travel industry. To ensure that the OTA gains a competitive edge over all verticals of the travel industry, this strategic investment was infused into ShareTrip. Startup Bangladesh has invested at ShareTrip’s $50 million company valuation. They aim to play a dominant role in the travel industry and convert the progress into a digitized industry.
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Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP, State Minister, ICT Division said “We have only explored about 20 percent of the travel market industry in Bangladesh while about 80 percent of this potential market remains unexplored. Foreigners and tourists are unaware of these beautiful destinations. I hope that with the growth of ShareTrip and Startup Bangladesh, the tourism industry in this country will grow as well at the same pace. Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina established Startup Bangladesh, a Venture Capital company, with the advice of the architect of Digital Bangladesh, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT affairs adviser to the honorable Prime Minister. Under this ‘Digital Bangladesh’ vision, we are creating the Startup ecosystem in Bangladesh. We have a plan to allocate 500 crores to our Startups. We hope that together, we can keep nurturing the future potential unicorns of Bangladesh.”
Sami Ahmed, Managing Director, Startup Bangladesh Limited said “I am excited to announce Startup Bangladesh’s investment in ShareTrip. Startup Bangladesh proudly welcomes ShareTrip to the family, an organization that has accumulated 50 percent of the country’s online travel market in a very short span of time. In only three years, the company has achieved a milestone of 25x growth, which is truly amazing. But that’s the specialty of startups, that when a great idea is turned into reality with skilled manpower and proper funding, the result is an incredible success. I believe that through innovation and expertise, ShareTrip will establish itself in the global market as well.”
Sadia Haque, Co-founder and CEO, ShareTrip said “ShareTrip is not just a travel agent, but an Online Travel Agent and a startup. We are an active change maker in the travel ecosystem. We aim to revolutionize the domestic hotel industry, which is still at a very nascent stage in Bangladesh. We are working with advanced technology to bring in innovations and product developments not only to enhance our product but also to ensure a seamless experience for our customers. Through innovation and superior customer service, we aim to soar even higher.”
ShareTrip has served over half a million customers from across the country. More than 5,000 agents work for the brand, making travel more accessible to even the remotest areas through a2i Digital Centers. ShareTrip believes that there is still an immense opportunity to digitize operations and explore deeper into the web sphere in Bangladesh. So far, it has taken approximately 20% of the total online space in the current travel market. Due to digitization in the travel sector still remaining in the nascent phases, customers are missing out on a lot of services and benefits. Hand in hand with its trade partners, along with stakeholders like the ICT Division; Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism; and Bangladesh Bank, ShareTrip wishes to expand the home-grown tech excellence in the global arena and create a scope of digitization for encouraging more foreign investment.
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