Sonu Sood launches Travel Union, B2B travel tech platform to serve rural customers

Bollywood actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood on Friday launched Travel Union, India's first rural B2B travel tech platform, to democratise travel services. 

The platform aims at serving the travel needs of rural customers across every block, district and gram panchayat in the country. 

Travel Union claims to be the country's "first membership platform for rural travel agents to build a profitable business." 

The platform will onboard rural travel agents, small business owners as well as enterprises. Once aboard, the members will be backed and digitally empowered to build a travel business community in rural India with zero investment. 

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Aiming to become the largest rural digital travel services platform, Travel Union will also not charge any recurring cost post onboarding. 

The platform has been launched in partnership with Spice Money (part of Spice Group), which is a rural fintech company, and Sonu Sood, who is also the director of Travel Union.

Taking to Twitter, Sonu posted:

Let's change the future of the travel industry with @Travelunion_TU. Join me today in building India's first rural travel agent network. Download the free app today and open the way to a successful tomorrow!"

In case any member wants to buy an IRCTC agent ID, the cost will also get refunded over time with successful transactions, making their ID free ultimately. Travel Union aims to fill the gap at the rural level as the travel sector is highly unorganised in Tier-2 towns and villages.

The travel aggregator platform will show the customers all available price options - trains, airlines, trips, hotels, etc., at the lowest prices. Travel Union also allows online cancellations and refunds.

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Acting as a one-stop shop for rural travel agents, they gain access to trains, over 10,000 bus operators, 500 plus domestic and international flights, and over 10 lakh hotels.

"Rural consumers do not have an option to pre-plan their travel and are forced to interact with multiple operators. This was more pronounced at the time of the lockdown as I had first-hand experience. With Travel Union catering to rural travel agents, the chances of earning an income, the business opportunities and potential to grow for the aspiring rural youth is high," said Sonu Sood.

Travel Union is currently available in Hindi and English and will also be launched in 11 other Indian languages. 

Presently available to be downloaded from Google Play store, the platform's new and upcoming offerings also comprise domestic and international packages, forex services, visa services, and travel/luggage accessories.