6 French Travel Startups Thriving Despite the Pandemic

France banned travel to and from countries outside of the European Union on January 31 in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The news clouded predictions about how soon and how fast travel bookings would rebound. Yet despite the gloom, a handful of French travel startups have adapted well to the crisis. Explora Project, Evaneos, Cirkwi, Cocoonr, MagicStay, and Koala appear to be in strong positions to grow as the pandemic dissipates. Several factors may make France a fertile ground for travel tech innovation. "We have more international tourist arrivals than any other country, according to the WTO," said Caroline LeBoucher, CEO of Atout France, the tourism development agency. "We're ranked as having one of the most competitive tourism industries by the World Economic Forum. We had the first major recovery program for startups." "President Macron has a very strong commitment to innovation with the development of the French Tech effort for startups, which connects entrepreneurs to financial and mentoring help," LeBoucher said. Last year, La French Tech's index of 120 fast-rising startups included 10 French travel startups. To be sure, the latest French travel restrictions gave a jolt to many French travel startups managing their cash flows. While startup founders stereotypically seek to "move fast and break things," many must continue to conserve cash to survive the latest falloff in travel bookings. Founders are minimizing every last euro of spending on payroll and marketing. Travel startups are playing for time. France should complete mass vaccinations of people over age 60 soon. President Emmanuel Macron promised this week in a TV interview with TF1 that all French adults who wanted would be inoculated "by the end of the summer." Covid-19 has so far been a virus that spares most people under age 60. So experts believe death rates will drop in France and in other countries with mass testing and mass vaccination, inspiring confidence in consumers to start booking trips. Some cities in some countries, such as India, might be achieving so-called herd immunity — though the reports remains controversial. Yet international long-haul travel may not recover until 2023. One wild card factor in forecasting a recovery is the rise of so-called mutant strains of the coronavirus, including a version of Covid-19 discovered in Brazil that some scientists worry could undermine today's version of vaccines, according to the medical jour