Awez Khan left his lucrative job and came back to his hometown on the Andamans where he started Island Financial Services, which today provides financial solutions to many Private and Government agencies in the Andaman Islands.
In 2013 Awez founded Experience Andamans which is one of its kinds in India which brings together travellers from around the world to discover real experience of being on an island. The startup maps every single destination on the islands and gives the travelers with an un-forgettable lifetime experience.
Experience Andamans gives the opportunity to experience the pristine beaches, the dense forests which cover these islands. It’s a platform with diverse information about exploring the Andaman Islands and people with passion to guide you throughout the journey.
“We take you beyond the resort and into the heart of the islands where setting sail, grabbing the reins, exploring lush peaks and tasting rich flavours are the experiences that become lasting memories.”, Says Awez.
Some of the unique experiences exclusively catered by Experience Andamans are Trip to Uninhabited Islands around both Port Blair and Havelock Island.
The portal has a Trip Planner, where you can select from varied hotels, activities and experiences. It is the first one in the world where you can actually create your own Andaman trip.
When living on the islands Awez’s friends and colleagues used to take suggestions from him regarding their travel plan to the Andaman Islands.
“I used to get excited after knowing about their visit, I made efforts to help them with their travel plan and used to refer them to people who organized trips.” Says Awez.
This happened quite few times that his friends used to complain that the Andamans has nothing different and their travel experience was not as expected.
As a local Awez knew the actual joy of being on the Andamans and what the islands has to offer to the travellers. He knew something big was missing and the travelers were not being exposed to the true experience of the islands.
Awez realized that the best way to experience a new place like a local is to connect with a local expert who is willing to share his insights.
The passion of exploring places and the enthusiasm to solve this problem gave rise to the idea of Experience Andamans.
After he started, Azhar, a Computer Science Engineer from NIT Durgapur who is an avid traveller joined him in this initiative after returning back from the United States.
In past 9 months of its journey, the startup has delivered the experiences to more than 260 people with an average spend of Rs 15000 per person.
“For this coming season we have already made booking of 170 people & lots more are in pipeline. We have already crossed 25 lakh topline in 9 months & by March 2015, we are expecting to add another 45-50 lakh to the topline.”, said Awez.
According to the Market Research Division, MoT, Andaman & Nicobar Islands survey of 2010-11, around 200,000 people have traveled to the islands, and since then the number of travelers has increased by approximately 25% every year.
Talking about the future plans of the company Awez says, “besides the Andamans, the company will also cover neighboring Islands in and around India.“
“Currently, no platform offers end-to-end facilities to travelers coming to the Andaman. We stress on a 360 degree approach towards how people travel to the Islands,” he added.
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