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Could you be the 'next big thing' in travel?
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Opportunity for ambitious entrepreneurs
Are you an ambitious or aspiring entrepreneur? Want to get your project, initiative, idea or business off the ground and turbo charge it? Start ITT Up by Travel Nomads is here for you.
Ideas and businesses
Whether you have come up with a new innovative idea, bootstrapping and in the startup phase, or are a business with high growth potential, we want to hear from you.
Profile across the travel and tourism industry
The Start ITT Up session is hosted at the annual Institute of Travel & Tourism (ITT) Conference, hosted globally each June. 45 mins of on stage action in front of the industry's elite.
Pitch your idea
Take the opportunity to pitch your idea or business, talk about the pain points you've identified, your solution to solve it and case studies of successes so far.
Live feedback from industry experts
A panel of industry experts give real time feedback, support from the audience and a live vote for their favourite pitch delivered.
2026 Success Stories
Samuel Flynn - Hands In
Samuel Flynn - Hands In
Samuel Flynn - Hands In
Samuel is a serial entrepreneur, fintech innovator, and travel payments thought leader, recognised for transforming how businesses and consumers handle high-value transactions. Frustrated by the complexity of split payments for group travel, events, and high-value bookings, Samuel founded Hands In after graduating university. Under Samuel’s leadership, Hands In has expanded across multiple travel niches, including retail, airline ticketing, and OTAs
Jayni Gudka - Sama Sama
Samuel Flynn - Hands In
Samuel Flynn - Hands In
Jayni is a social entrepreneur with a vision to make the tourism industry more inclusive of underrepresented communities and their stories, helping them find the extraordinary in the ordinary. She travels the world with a notebook, a camera, and a clap-fan that delivers a dramatic snap whenever a story hits the mark. Because when communities get to tell their own stories with dignity, she believes, everything changes.
Rowdy Klein - GoHabitat
Samuel Flynn - Hands In
Rowdy Klein - GoHabitat
Rowdy is the founder of GoHabitat, a booking alternative that channels visitor income directly into local landscape restoration projects across Europe. After bringing together its first 50 landscapes and securing a €20,000 EU Fu-Tourism grant to pilot the concept, the platform has now completed development and is onboarding its founding landscapes for its first season.
The 'Start ITT Up' session
The Judges
Start ITT Up brings together some of the travel and tourism industry's leading experts across entrepreneurship, communications, business strategy, branding, finance and more.
The Opportunity
Moderated by Travel Nomads Founder, Danny Waine, Start ITT Up can put you and your business or idea in the shop window of the brightest minds in travel.
The Audience
The Audience
Hosted overseas at the annual ITT Conference, the Start ITT Up audience hosts investors, corporates, suppliers, travel agents, tour operators and many others.