Young people view travel as a lifestyle but lack companions for frequent travel

Young people prioritize travel. Over 70% defining leisure travel as very important to their lifestyle and placing it at the pinnacle of their budget priorities.

Adult Gen Z and young millennials travel 28-35 days per year. Millennials are willing to spend $5,000 on a vacation, whilst an adult Gen Zers have a daily budget of $100 during their leisure trips, bringing their annual travel spend to $3,000-$4,000.

These young generations are traveling more than Gen Xers and baby boomers, and they are rapidly becoming the focus of the travel industry.

“Gen Zs aren’t easing into the travel market — they are exploding into it” (CNBC).

However, often young people don’t have enough friends with similar interests to take that dream trip or to enjoy frequent travel:

• 55% say they would not travel alone, 40% have recently canceled a trip due to lack of companions.
• 60% would travel more often if they had companions, aiming at extra 2.5 trips per year.
• 55% are keen to make new friends or meet a date through traveling.

There is a bigger problem behind these numbers and trends – loneliness.  

Rising social travel wave is addressing the underlying issue of loneliness

The travel industry has the opportunity to act as a matchmaker. Skift, a prominent travel news provider known for its focus on the future of travel, has identified 'How travel can fix the world's loneliness crisis' as one of the major travel megatrends for 2024. 

In the years ahead, AI will supercharge traveler connections, said Gary Morrison, the CEO of Hostelworld. Using deep learning, AI can potentially recommend to users the travelers they will have the most fun to hang out with or activities they will enjoy based on their trip dates, the destination choice and activity interests.

Young generations, being digitally and travel native, seek inspiration and companions online – with 90% indicating that their travel plans and ideas are influenced by social media.

“40% don’t have destination or dates when search but seek connections to physical communities and experiences” Airbnb data, 2021.

However, young travelers also recognize the importance of compatibility when traveling with strangers – 70% consider personality, travel style, and interests critical for an enjoyable trip.

Our survey of 3,000 target consumers found a significant overlap between social travel and online dating markets. We found strong evidence of a willingness to travel with online friends: 55% are eager to meet new friends online to travel together, and 50% consider it a great way to meet new friends or a date.  

People are searching for like-minded travel companions online. Young, digitally native consumers demand an effective app solution, similar to online dating, to meet this need.

Floqsta platform connects like-minded people and enables them to travel together

Floqsta's unique approach is to match people for travel proactively and intelligently using AI-enabled social matching algorithms:

• Connecting like-minded travelers into socially compatible groups ready to travel
• Creating trips collaboratively from curated contextual travel recommendations

App is fun to use, promotes collaborative planning and motivates users to travel

We have created a unique concept called a floq — a group of socially compatible and like-minded travelers matched with a travel opportunity. The platform creates floqs dynamically, intelligently and proactively

Users can review floqs, recommended travel companions and travel options, get to know each other, and collaborate on planning their unique travel adventure together.

Swipe right to join a floq and travel together!

Very enthusiastic feedback from early users

Floqsta got an overwhelmingly positive response to the app launch. Floqsta has 4.5-star rating on AppStore, with users sharing positive experiences and praising the groundbreaking nature of the Floqsta concept: 'revolutionary', 'best social travel app', 'unique', 'super cool idea', and 'I am in love with it!'.

'With Floqsta, I can find not just friends, but lifelong connections!' resonates so well with our mission of creating human connections through travel.

'It’s already giving me loads of happiness!'

'Before I found this app, I struggled to meet others who were traveling to the same place at the same time as me, and it was even harder to find people who were also interested in the same things. Floqsta solves those problems.'

'This is a must-have for travelers and adventure seekers alike!'

Floqsta uniqueness stems from proprietary AI-enabled social matching algorithms

The heart of Floqsta is its matching algorithms. We collaborate with behavioral science experts to enhance the algorithms, which are powered by Machine Learning. Over 100 explicit data points on users' interests and preferences, enhanced with NLP-enabled insights from platform interactions and trip learnings, are utilized to create harmonious groups.

With integration of Generative AI, our vibrant bot Floxy engages users and groups in fun and gamified ways, enabling collaboration and development of trust, while planning trips.

Safety commitment

Floqsta has a steadfast commitment to safety from inception, with robust features already in place to promote positive travel experiences. As we innovate, our focus remains on enhancing these capabilities, dedicating ourselves to the community's well-being. Upholding a culture of respect is paramount, and we actively foster an environment for kind and considerate interactions.

First mover into a white space at the intersection of travel and matchmaking

Floqsta is unique. We saw an opportunity and a white space at the crossroads of travel industry, dating and social platforms.

With significant and growing demand for social travel, there are many options for travelers to search through networks for companions or to join group trips. What makes Floqsta different is its ability to create compatible traveling groups and to make these recommendations proactively, akin to dating apps.

Dynamically forming harmonious social travel groups offers users both choice and convenience, while also fostering network effects.

Digital commerce and marketplaces for global travel industry are vast and growing

TAM: Young consumers in global markets spend $1 trillion on travel experiences generating over $120 billion in online retail commissions and digital advertising.

SAM: We see an addressable market of $30 billion from 200 million adult Gen Z and young millennials.

SOM: With first mover advantage Floqsta targets 20 million users on the platform, 10% of SAM volumes, generating $1 billion in revenues by 2030. 

How we monetize: commissions and advertising from travel eco-system

Floqsta's monetization model is based on (1) commissions from booking trips, tours, and activities; (2) digital advertising from the travel ecosystem; and (3) subscriptions for value-added user features. Diversified high-margin revenue streams enable scalability and flexibility as the company grows and evolves.

Floqsta assembles young enthusiastic groups ready for travel adventures. We present them with travel recommendations, contextually and early on. That brings value to our travel partners.

Floqsta is poised to generate trips and revenue during the next phase

• Validated demand via target consumer surveys and actual results from the app launch.
• Received positive user feedback, concept's acceptance, and an input for the MVP plan.
• Formed travel partnerships and gathered early data on unit economics as a foundation for financial forecasts.
• Created AI hypotheses, models, and original ML algorithms.
• Developed a 'catching the fire' consumer acquisition and engagement approach.

Our team is a great fit to the opportunity with decades of experience in travel, technology, AI and social media

Together we have over 100 years of key experience areas – travel, technology, AI, social media and marketing. We have done starts ups, built companies, scaled revenue, and led teams. We are a diverse, passionate, experienced team committed to our mission!