On resilience and instant ramen
College drop-out disrupts travel industry and kick-starts community growth
With her bright smile, tanned skin, and propensity to wear sleeveless outfits when not climbing mountains, April Cuenca seems like the typical millennial. But the entrepreneur and travel buff channels her passion into Tripkada, the curated trip-joining start-up that I featured a while back.
In this uncut version of the interview I conducted for Travel Daily Media, I learned how tourism can be a social enterprise, how education can go beyond four walls, and why pivoting a start-up's business model can be helpful in the long run. Fingers crossed she and her co-founder will have the first Philippine unicorn in their hands!
Me: How did you start out in the travel industry?
April: I actually dropped out of college when I was 20, haha! Then I worked as a tour coordinator for a travel agency, but all that they were doing were adventure trips going out of the country. We decided to do a travel show to showcase the Philippines, but back then we didn’t actually have the network to connect travellers to their destinations.
I was telling my boss, ‘This doesn’t even make sense! I know so much about sending people to Mongolia, Malaysia, Taiwan, or wherever else. I work so hard to send people about their adventures. But then we come back to the Philippines, and we don’t even show them what the country has.’ That’s actually what convinced my boss to do the travel show.
I asked him for money to go backpacking around the country, to really boost up our supplier list. I told him, ‘Just let me go, I’ll travel in the cheapest way possible, and when I get back I will have the logistics for (the show).’ So I did, and we did the travel show.
Although the show didn’t pan out so well, I had gotten so much knowledge about the Philippines as a whole that people were contacting me on LinkedIn and on Facebook to consult me for their tourism operations. If they wanted to add a new destination, or they wanted to create a new tour circuit, they would ask me. A lot of them were foreign.
Me: So what inspired you to make a business out of group travel in the first place? We know that you started out with FlipTrip but then spun it off to Tripkada.
April: It all stems from one memory, from when I was 12. At that time I was finally able to watch local channels – before then we were only allowed (to watch) English channels to learn the language – and I was always tuned in to the news. At that time we had a lot of typhoons going through the Philippines, as is normal in this country. There was one news show – it was an episode with (local newscaster) Jessica Soho – that featured a community that never received rescue or relief. It happened mainly because (relief operations groups) had no way to access the community. My thought process from then on was, ‘How do we help communities like them become more resilient?’
The Philippines is a country of natural resources – we have mountains, beaches, caves, (and) people. And you’d find all of those anywhere in the country, except for the city, right? So it now becomes a matter of how we can develop these (indigent) communities into tourism hubs, tourism communities, little by little so that they can be more resilient, they can grow more from an economic standpoint, and then hopefully in all aspects.
Tourism is a mechanism that really creates an inclusive kind of growth. You don’t just pay one person when you stay in a destination. You spread your wealth around quickly to a restaurant, a resort, a mode of transportation, and many other businesses. I already had that thought when I was 12.
So from then on, I have been pursuing tourism as a business model in trying to learn how to develop communities, how to manage tourism operations ... I’ve been studying it on the ground, I’ve been doing so many different things in the industry.
Me: It seems like you’re Richard Branson, but for Philippine tourism! Where did you gain your experience, your preparation for this?
April: Like I said, I began as a tour coordinator, then I worked in marketing. I’ve been on the ground, I’ve been doing so many different things in the travel industry. I took a lot of different jobs, but never for a big company. So, when it came time for me to decide to do something on my own, not just as a consultant or as a freelancer, I came up with the idea for FlipTrip. But again, I still did it with the angle that I wanted to help Filipino communities develop through travel. Today, a lot of what I now know and do with Tripkada are self-taught, or I learned them from a book.
‘Wow Philippines!’ (a Department of Tourism campaign began in 2002) is one of Tripkada’s biggest influences.
Me: So what was FlipTrip about, and how is Tripkada different from it?
April: FlipTrip was a way to help the unconnected be connected. The big problem we had there was, we were not like Agoda or Expedia who would have these huge, deep pockets to use for educating and maintaining providers. And when you deal with people who have never been online, you have to double (the training) because it doesn’t start with ‘What is FlipTrip?’, it starts with ‘What is the internet?’!
So we did that and pursued FlipTrip for a while. It was very slow-going because we started with that very basic question. So that was obviously not a viable business because of the cost, in retrospect. [laughs] (But) we managed to teach and connect 900 suppliers, whether they were providing tours, accommodations or other services, across 10 different provinces in the Philippines. This didn’t even count the thousands of people that we connected with around the country, people who messaged us, ‘Can you visit our place?’, or people we reached out to.
So we had such a huge network, and the question became, ‘How do we connect to the same people without needing them to learn (anymore)?’ because the learning curve is so, so steep especially when their only notion of the internet is (using) Facebook.
We wanted to connect our clients with the same suppliers, or at least the same communities that we had before, but we needed an easier way to get them there. Commuting was not an option anymore – people are time-poor.
We realised that the most sales that we had for FlipTrip were the events where everything was packaged. People were joining these group trips, then it became fun because they met each other and it was cheaper to travel that way. So we started looking into making group-joining trips, and we were wondering why people weren’t booking our trips. We thought, ‘Probably (our trips) are a little more expensive,’ but all things considered they were not expensive as per industry standards. So we were wondering why our trips were seen as expensive, and then we found on Facebook that there was this whole movement that was growing while we were doing FlipTrip. It was a community of people sharing notes about do-it-yourself travel planning, people who were sharing trips. That’s where and when the phenomenon, the trend of organizing group trips started.
So we said, ‘Okay, admittedly we’re not the first ones to think about this. There’s a whole community that’s doing it. Now what are their problems? What are their issues?’ These are the people we want to connect to. They are the people who want to go out on a regular basis, to experience the outdoors and to experience the Philippines. These are the ones with the bucket lists saying, ‘I want to do this, this and this this year.’ So we started looking into that, we interviewed hundreds of people whether on Facebook, chat, Twitter or by phone. We would even go to their meetups and their group trips. It was a very long process!
When we decided to shift (business models) and start researching in 2016, it was very difficult because we ran out of money already (note: FlipTrip won prize money when it began in 2014). But, it gave us a lot of insights and it gained us a lot of friends in the community as well. So, everything about TripKada has been done with the eye of community members, with our organisers, with our actual clients. The way that we’ve approached it is very different, and it was shaped by what we saw, what we experienced together with them.
Me: I see, so that’s what happened. I am surprised though because you said it started out with that desire to help. Most people would have gone into volunteerism, we know there are a lot of non-profit groups that handle volunteer work. How does a 12-year-old get the idea to use tourism? Why not work with volunteer NGOs, or pivot Tripkada to volun-tourism?
April: Well, I didn’t have a privileged life. I can’t really delve so much into that, but what I can say is that at a very young age I was already taught this saying: ‘You give the man a fish, you feed him for a day; you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for life.’ Now if you teach the man to sell the fish, you build more people’s lives. So that’s how Tripkada is for me. While we do welcome people who engage in volun-tourism work, and we love it when they do, usually it’s because they’ve travelled somewhere and they were touched by what they saw. But (if) you’re very active going into a destination, even when you’re just on vacation, you’re already helping people earn. And when you tell people about it, you’re helping bring people and income back into the community.
Here’s a true story: one of the security guards in my school before is now back in Palawan as a tour guide, and he’s with his family. I’ve met so many people around the country who are able to have a stable income, be happy and stay with their families because of the opportunities brought by tourism.
NGOs serve their purpose, volun-tourism serves its purpose. But creating these opportunities for business, opportunities for livelihood can have a more scalable and lasting impact because of tourism – those are what I want to pursue.
Who are the Tripkada?
Me: So how many were you when you started, and how big is the team now?
April: When we launched in August last year, we were only three in operations, three part-time developers in tech. It’s always been a very lean team. Now, we’ve grown – we are seven in operations, and three full-time developers in the tech team. From having three organizers, we now have hundreds of organizers! We’re still trying to train and test most of them because of quality assurance, but it’s coming along.
Me: So you guys do all the training yourselves?
April: Well, what our organisers do is they collaborate; we just give them inputs here and there. But we do hold outdoor education classes, which is mandatory for all of them. They have to know basic first aid, life support, wilderness survival and traveller ethics.
Me: Are the original partners from FlipTrip or the early days of Tripkada still part of the team?
April: Just my dev co-founder, Ragde (Falcis). We used to be three. Jackie Yap was our marketing co-founder. She has since gone back to working with her family in a different country.
Me: And you’ve organised how many trips so far?
April: I… have no idea at this point. [laughs]
Me: You’ve organised that much?
April: Yeah! A lot, a lot. [laughs] I should be able to answer that question by the end of this week though, because I’m doing the 2017 audit already. (*As of January 31st, 2018, Tripkada has organised 2,000 trips!)
Me: So I’m guessing 2017 was a great fiscal year for you guys?
April: It was... okay.
Me: But if there are more people coming in, I’m sure it would get even better.
April: We’ve grown a lot in 2017, it was a very exciting year for us.
Me: I bet. I’m surprised your office is in Poblacion (the traditional side of Metro Manila’s central business district). What convinced you to put your base of operations here?
April: The bars! [laughs] No, it’s also foot traffic! The majority of hostels here in Metro Manila are within a 400-meter radius from this office.
Me: Oh, really?
April: Yeah, and people always walk by, so it’s the perfect place for us to be.
Me: Which trips were the favourites that people really signed up for and went on? And which ones are the ones they want repeats of – either ‘I went last time and I want to go again,’ or ‘I signed up but didn’t get to go before, so I’m taking the chance now’?
April: Normally it’s the first destination that a person goes to. Mount Pulag (the Philippines’ third highest mountain) is always a crowd favourite. It’s always such a beautiful destination, and it’s where many outdoor enthusiasts start. A lot of people keep complaining that it’s overcrowded, but I think the developments in the last year have helped it to be less so. I also think it’s gotten better because the locals and operators are more capable of working together, so no matter what you’re always going to have a great experience there.
For beaches, Siargao (an island province in Southern Philippines) is now our most-requested trip. It’s quite far and it’s quite expensive, but it’s on the bucket lists of so many people for a good reason. You get to be comfortable but you still have the backpacker vibe when you’re there, that’s why. I mean, in Mount Pulag you can camp without camping.
Me: Camp without camping?
April: Yeah. When you’re in Mount Pulag you’re put in a homestay program. You feel like you’re roughing it out, because it’s not your house, but it’s really not roughing it out at all! [laughs] It’s the same situation in Siargao.
Me: I see. But which destination would be Tripkada’s dream to offer to travellers? Since you specialise in off-the-beaten-track travels, what’s the one place that you’ve seen that you wish more people get to see?
April: Well, most of our destinations are that way. [laughs] But our absolute dream for Tripkada would be to provide more trip opportunities to Mindanao, because that would mean that we aren’t the only ones growing, but the Philippines is also growing as a whole, because the armed conflict there would be gone. There are a lot of really, really beautiful places that I never could have imagined would exist in this country.
Me: So you mean it’s not all just beaches or mountains?
April: No, no, no. The amount of culture that you’ll find, and history … one of my personal goals is to get people (from the Philippines) to live their own history, because if you’ll notice, most travel startups would always look for a geographic scope. It’s always about being an international company, going through the region first then going global.
Tripkada focuses on getting locals to travel locally, and I think a lot of that stems from my personal wish to get Filipinos to live their own history and appreciate their own country. When they are able to experience that here, then it would be a dream come true.
The portrait of a startup as an adventure
Me: Out of all the other local travel startups, you’re one of the first to focus on local travel. Is there a mirror for this that can be found in other countries, like specifically the way Tripkada does it? Is there anybody that does it in the same style as Tripkada?
April: No. What you’ll find normally are experience-based travel startups like Airbnb Experiences. They believe that any person can be a local guide. But to us, not everybody can be a guide, because being a guide takes knowledge and skills. What I mean is you can teach people what you’re passionate about, there’s no problem with that. But the way we work is that we believe everybody can create trips and tap the locals who are the true guides. That’s the main difference.
Larger companies connect with travel agencies and formal tour operators to create tours. We give that to the crowd. While we don’t close our doors to registered businesses – we have quite a few of them – we open the doors to people who want to begin creating trips and leading groups. We work with them because that creates more micro-businesses that, someday in the near future, will become registered businesses, so you see more growth.
Me: Okay then. So you mentioned that your team holds its own training sessions. Do you feel that’s another thing that you feel makes you different from other tour operators today, particularly larger companies?
April: Well, we value low-impact groups since we believe in sustainable and responsible travel. So we like to keep our groups small, however they are still many enough to fit a van comfortably.
We also value creating the job opportunity. If a service can be given by a local for any trip, a local will service it. We don’t want to overlap responsibilities. So our community of trip organisers function more as coordinators – they make all the arrangements, they do the coordination, they make sure travellers are comfortable.
And, we’re also different from other agencies in the sense that we don’t operate the trips ourselves. It’s like Airbnb or Uber: the organisers are not in-house, they’re a community. So that helps us to scale faster to more destinations. Maintaining quality assurance is a lot harder, but that’s a challenge we’re willing to take.
Me: How do you think will the current (*Duterte) administration’s attitudes on travel and tourism affect Tripkada’s plans? I think that what really helped Philippine tourism was that the past administrations had a really good handle on what was needed in the travel industry. Some previous administrations focused on infrastructure, which is very important because without access there’s no way to bring people in. The most recent one showcased what each place had to offer, and that’s when we really started to see the tourism boom.
April: I think the only factor about this administration that really affects us is the tax reform law, because it affects our price points. But the promotion of the destinations that we offer, and the aspirations for people to visit them, don’t necessarily come from the Department of Tourism’s marketing initiatives. Rather, they come from private initiatives of people on social media – it’s FOMO (fear of missing out). Filipinos have this strong sense of making bucket lists, and sharing experiences. We use Facebook and Instagram incessantly here, so it just makes it so much easier for people to learn about things that they could possibly do and have as new experiences.
Me: Got it. What are you looking forward to this 2018? What places or trips can you tease us about, especially the ones that you’ve never done before?
April: We’re very excited to have more trips in the Visayas region (central Philippines) and in Mindanao (southern Philippines). We’re looking forward to building more communities of travellers, because it’s not just in Metro Manila where there are people that want to travel. We’re excited to expand more this year, to refine a lot of our process, and to show everybody that you can create a startup in Metro Manila! It’s mainly all of that.
Me: Why did you say that? Has it been an issue, trying to setup a startup in Metro Manila?
April: Well, people always think that it’s harder. If you don’t have a lot of resources they think that you can’t do it. But we’ve done it with very minimal resources. [laughs]
Me: Wow, that’s amazing! So Tripkada is mostly bootstrapped at this point?
April: Um, well, we were very fortunate that we received angel investment last year during Q2. But we’ve been very, very frugal about it. Before that, it was all bootstrapped.
I think what Filipinos need the most now to be empowered to launch their own startups is to see somebody who doesn’t quit.
Me: Do you think the Philippines is ripe for travel startups?
April: Yeah. I think, in general, the Philippines is ripe for innovation. But what I want to see in the startups that come in is resilience. It takes a very strong stomach to be a travel startup here, I think. New startups have to come in and understand the industry from an experience point of view before they can try to disrupt it, do you get me?
Me: Well, that’s good advice. Just to clarify though: to get anywhere as a startup, you need to have a very strong stomach, and you have to have passion?
April: Passion backed up by experience, or at least the time and financial resources to be able to go through the training, to get the experience. No matter how much you want to do something, it’s very hard to stay focused and passionate about it if you can’t afford to even feed yourself with ramen – and I mean instant noodle ramen, not the nice ramen!
What I am proud about Tripkada is that we took with us every mistake we made throughout our startup journey from FlipTrip to Tripkada.
Even FlipTrip had times like, you know, the high when you win a competition – we didn’t have that for Tripkada. With Tripkada we were always just operating in the background and learning from our community. Let’s take the app wireframe as an example. Honestly when we launched the TripKada app the first time, it looked … well, not really ugly, but it was very masculine and tight. So, little learnings along the way keep us changing and improving.
Me: You’ve got such an amazing story. I wish you well in all of that. Thank you for agreeing to do the interview.
April: Thank you for having us!
Categories: Sustainable tourism, sustainability, tour operators, travel agents
Keywords/tags:
Editions: Philippines, Asia, Media
Destinations: Philippines, Asia
