Farinto, a new web app, brings all travel operators, small and medium, from across India under one umbrella. “Our focus is on unique trips,” says co-founder Dilshad Master, an avid traveller who was in the television industry for over 22 years, including a stint as vice-president at National Geographic. Think self-drive safaris in the Thar desert and walks from Mandrem to Arabol in Goa.
The inside story
The app, currently in its beta phase, was created by Master, Soum Paul and Sachin Bansal in April. “The idea came when Paul and I, (old friends) held a session at Adventure Travel Association of India, in Shimla, September 2011, on how digital space could be used for business by tour operators,” says Master, who handles marketing and finance while Paul takes care of technology. Later Bansal, (Paul’s former classmate from IIT Kanpur) took charge of data analysis.
In the pipeline
Some of the tours are handpicked by the founders themselves. “I found Raju Bharti’s cottage at Goshaini, on the banks of River Beas in Himachal Pradesh and luxury accommodation at Chattra Sagar built on a dam in Rajasthan, during my travels,” says Master, who will launch the app publicly next month with a new design, an option to rate travel operators based on different parameters and more. “We are creating a platform (based on user feedback) through which they can get personalised packages easily,” says Master, who plans to include South-East Asian countries and Mexico soon.