TravTalk India Online Magazine
Bizzo, a Covid-born tech start-up launched to empower small and independent service businesses across the country, has unveiled its very first microsite – GoMahabaleshwar. The launch event for GoMahabaleshwar was attended by Pallavi Patil, Chief Officer – Mahabaleshwar Municipality, Sunil Katkar – PA of Shrimant Chh.Udayanraje Bhosle (Member of Parliament), Shrikant Tidke – Tehsildaar Mahabaleshwar Municipality, Rahul Bhilare – Association Head, Bhilar Hotel Association, Rohan Komti – Head Association, Hotel Association Mahabaleshwar, Ankush Bawalekar – Head Mahabaleshwar Taxi Association, Bhagwat Saheb – PSI Mahabaleshwar, Mahabaleshwar Police Station and DM Bawalekar – Ex President – Mahabaleshwar Hotel Association. Designed especially for business owners in Mahabaleshwar’s travel-tourism and hospitality value chain, GoMahabaleshwar is a one-of-its-kind initiative that will bring together all kinds of local service providers and businesses on one single site that is collectively owned and operated by the community. In essence, it will enable the entire town’s travel-tourism ecosystem to be on one single QR code.
For consumers and travellers, the GoMahabaleshwar microsite will be a one-stop destination to book all their travel requirements and allied services in the bustling tourist town. And for small and independent service businesses, it presents a unique opportunity to gain visibility and garner bookings via a platform that is aggregator-free. Through GoMahabaleshwar, Bizzo aims to foster a confident and atmanirbhar community where local businesses are competing and collaborating.
The initiative has been executed with the cooperation of local associations such as the Mahabaleshwar Taxi Union, Resorts and Hotel Association, Local Tourism Authorities and Farm Stay groups. These collaborations ensured that the growth of the local travel-tourism ecosystem is promoted via digitisation and that there is an ease of consumption of services.
Commenting on the launch of the GoMahabaleshwar microsite, Viineit Toshniiwal, CEO and Founder of Bizzo said, “Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani is one of the biggest tourism hubs in Maharashtra, however, more often than not, the small and independent businesses in these areas have had to depend on aggregators to build a digital presence. But not anymore, through Bizzo’s microsite, we have successfully digitised every service and managed to bring the entire travel-tourism and hospitality sector of the town onto a single QR Code. Bizzo’s microsite will be a one-of-a-kind Portal that is owned and operated by the local business. This will create a positive digital impact resulting in customers connecting directly with the local businesses.”
“Whether you’re looking for hotels or villas, taxis or go-karting, adventure sports or theme parks – Bizzo has something for everyone. The microsite allows users to access all of Mahabaleshwar’s services and bookings with just a few clicks. Thus, with GoMahabaleshwar, we aim to put Mahabaleshwar on the map as India’s first Digi Tourism City where every service is available online,” added Toshniiwal.
Currently, Bizzo has a network of 20,000 small and independent businesses across India. Additionally, scores of hospitality businesses in Varanasi, Jaipur, Uttarakhand, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Udaipur, Mumbai, Pune, Mahabaleshwar, Bangalore and Mysore have also shown interest in their services. By 2023, Bizzo plans to add 2 million merchants from across the country to its network and launch more micro websites like Go Varanasi, Go Mysore, Go Pune etc. Thus, helping SMBs across India to digitally build, scale and organise their businesses, and free themselves from the hold of aggregators.
