24-year-old FlipTrip CEO says the Philippines has far more to offer than white beaches

April Cuenca’s life has been about traveling.

The 24-year-old co-founder and CEO of FlipTrip has been traveling across the Philippines from a young age. She even took on roles as a backpacker, a tour guide, a tour coordinator; she also managed the logistics of a travel show. Each experience was memorable: sharing a bench on a RORO ship in Sorsogon, caving in Samar, hiking with the Mal-Os in Romblon, judging a beauty contest in Occidental Mindoro, and sleeping in a hammock with the amihan boys of Dahican beach in Davao Oriental.

Cuenca says she was fortunate enough to have gone places, especially off-beat destinations. After all, there’s so much more to the Philippines than its blindingly white beaches. But not everyone is as lucky as her.

Lack of information on destinations

A typical problem with traveling in the Philippines, she says, is finding information about isolated or remote destinations.

Even for the popular destinations, information could sometimes be outdated or wrong, reviews could be irritatingly incoherent, phone numbers always busy or unavailable. And it’s tedious to keep an eye on different offers and deals online.

FlipTrip wants to do away with all these headaches of trip planning. “FlipTrip is all about making exploring and having adventures easier by connecting travelers directly to locals in their chosen destinations. You can find your next destination and pick your tour activities, accommodation, and transportation, then book them all in one go,” Cuenca explains.

It trains locals, with little or no experience in the web, to accept and manage bookings in real-time using a simplified reservation management system. “You might not always get a five-star hotel, but we curate our local partners to ensure that the information we present can help you to find the service that fits you,” Cuenca says.

There are so far about 8,000 users on FlipTrip’s site, and over 100 partner businesses and entrepreneurs based in Manila and six provincial destinations, including Aurora, Tarlac, Bulacan, Pangasinan, Zambales, and Cagayan.

The site also provides travel concierge services for clients, especially foreigners, who are looking to go on multi-destination trips.

Tourism growth