Travelling with Rolling Pandas

ANDREA SPAGGIARI'S INTERNET MARKETPLACE IS REJUVENATING THE ITALIAN TOURIST INDUSTRY.


"It's a secret that we only disclose to those who buy a trip". This is how Andrea Spaggiari, a 27-year-old from Reggio Emilia and a Bocconi graduate in Management, replies when asked about how name of his entrepreneurial creation, Rolling Pandas, came about: "We are a travel marketplace, and have inaugurated a new trend; ours is the portal of reference for selling travel packages in Italy. In practice we work with travel agencies and tour operators making several tourist offers available on our site: they are divided by type, from adventure travel to the relaxing vacation».

Andrea developed the idea after his first job experience at Pronto Pro, a successful startup founded by Bocconians Silvia Wang and Marco Ogliengo, followed by a year-long trip to India and Nepal. "I wanted to do something in the tourism industry, and slowly got to this solution, which became a reality when the company was launched in January. We act as brokers between the supply and demand of tourist travel, and thanks to our purchasing power manage to offer competitive prices on tourist packages. We currently work with over 100 partners and have approximately 300 vacation trips available on the platform. The greatest satisfaction is that now it’s no longer us who have to convince tour operators to join the platform; it’s them coming to us».

The Rolling Pandas team consists of six people. "We do not just sell the tourist trip but we can also take care of getting travel insurance or the visa for those countries that require it. We also have an efficient customer care service, always ready to solve any problems you might encounter, also after you arrive at your tourist destination. Ultimately, what we do is an old job, but done in a contemporary way.»


 

by Davide Ripamonti
Translated by Alex Foti