Mekong startups win cash awards

LUANG PRABANG GoP a travel app startup company serving domestic travellers in Myanmar walked away with the USD10,000 prize at the inaugural MIST awards presentation during the Mekong Tourism Forum last week.

GoP works like a typical travel agency by working with tour operators, hotels tour providers, restaurants and transport operators to offer vacations to Myanmar’s family market. It won the MIST Startup Accelerator Award that comes with a USD10,000 cash prize.

The Mekong Innovative Startup Tourism (MIST) Accelerator Programme’s final pitch and awards presentations were key highlights of this year’s Mekong Tourism Forum, held in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Twelve startups from the Mekong Region pitched for prizes during the final round held one day ahead of the tourism forum.

Making its first appearance at the MTF, MIST is a joint venture of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office and Mekong Business Initiative under the Asian Development Bank.

MIST helps promising startups in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam, but the wider MBI programme also supports innovative projects elsewhere in Southeast Asia (ASEAN).  Overall, 24 startups made it to the final round when entries from the Asia-Pacific region were included.

“Innovation and technologies are transforming the world’s tourism sector, but the Mekong region has lagged behind. We are eager to see the region’s startups innovate and create new avenues for tourism growth,” said ADB senior economist for Vietnam, Dominic Mellor. He is also the head of the Mekong Business Initiative at ADB, which is funding the initiative together with the Government of Australia.

GoP won top MIST Startup Accelerator Award, but three runners up were awarded cash prizes of USD7,000 each under the category Tourism Innovator Grand Awards.

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