As a business traveller or travel manager, it's not always easy to plan your trip. multi-transport travel in the Mekong sub-region, which officially includes Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Vietnam. Now they have a solution at their fingertips with Baolau, the first website to integrate all means of transport, from air to rail or ferry.
Baolau is no novice. It is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, but 2018 will go down as a crucial year for the company. this start-up created in 2014 by two Spanish students. " The idea came to me after a trip to Japan in 2011, where I discovered that there were a number of applications that integrated all types of transport, comparing prices and journey times. I then thought that this concept could be applied to other Asian countries. "says Alberto Moreno, CEO and co-founder of Baolau.
Working for the Spanish embassy in Vietnam, he and his colleague decided to create a company that would solve the problems faced by all travellers, including business travellers, in planning their trips. Initially only available in Vietnam, the company quickly extended its coverage. Back in 2015, Baolau was the only company to allow online booking and purchase of train, bus and ferry tickets in Vietnam. " We have given travellers the opportunity to include in their itinerary a transfer with companies that communicate only in Vietnamese. With us, business travellers taking part in an infrastructure construction project in Vung Tau, in the south of Vietnam, can book their plane ticket to Ho Chi Minh City, then the hydrofoil transfer from ex-Saigon to Vung Tau. He'll even discover that a hydrofoil is faster and safer than a car! "says Alberto Moreno.
Since 2016, Baolau's development has accelerated. The start-up has integrated train, bus and ferry services in Cambodia, then in Laos, as well as regional and domestic flights of all airlines in the region. In 2017, trains in Thailand were also integrated into the search engine. It is now possible to book flights to virtually all of South-East Asia, as well as China, Japan and Korea, on the site.
2018 marks another milestone, with Baolau joining Malaysia's train network to Singapore in April, in addition to Myanmar's bus routes. " The next big step will be China. We already have a number of train routes and regional air links from the provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan. We should shortly be finalising an agreement with the Chinese authorities that will enable us to integrate all the domestic and regional airline flights to Yunnan and Guangxi. This will be followed by all domestic rail services. This is an important step for Baolau users, as the domestic rail lines are not open to foreigners, as the websites are in Chinese. We will be offering this service to international travellers by the end of the year or early in 2019. "says Alberto Moreno.
It will therefore be possible for travellers and travel managers to build complete itineraries and, above all, to compare offers between different carriers. More than 80 of them, spread across the Mekong sub-region, are accessible on Baolau.vn, including in French! By the way, "bao lâu" means "how long does it take" in Vietnamese. A question that has become superfluous with this site.
