Give Us An Introduction 

My name is Simon Smedberg and I’m a 23 year old travel enthusiast who lives in Karlstad, Sweden. I am working as the CEO & Co-Founder of the new sustainable travel site Glooby.

I am someone who loves to travel and discover beautiful places, cultures and people around the world. This, in combination with my interest for sustainability contributed to the idea of creating Glooby.

Positive characteristics of mine: I try to see opportunities in different ideas and situations. What triggers me is to share my thoughts and ideas with others and develop creative ideas that can really make a difference and help people in their lives.

What Inspired You to Create Glooby? 

As a travel enthusiast, I used to check the Internet for flights and hotels when going abroad. Early on I reacted to that there were numerous travel sites, but most were unclear, full with annoying ads and most importantly, a total lack of sustainability.

I had no information about how different flight and hotel alternatives affected the environment, and which alternative was the most sustainable. How much more does for example that longer flight with lots of transfers affected the environment, in comparison with a direct flight? It is not only the most convenient option, but also more environmentally friendly.

Because of the lack of sustainability in the tourism industry, me and my colleague Emil Kilhage saw the opportunity to create a travel website that not only showed the cheapest options, but that also made it easier for people to find the best and most environmentally friendly travel alternatives – the most sustainable flights and eco-labelled hotels. As travel lovers, we think it’s important to minimize your impact on the environment, to keep the travel destinations as beautiful when you leave, as when you arrived.

What Is The Best Part About Your Job? 

The best thing about my job is that I work with what I love. I work on a daily basis with motivating issues and talk, meet and work with interesting people. We work to fulfill our ideas, connect with other people who appreciate what we are doing, while helping people to find the most sustainable experiences worldwide. Also, it is motivating to work with a vision to change something in a huge industry, I like challenges and hope that we can influence the travel industry in the long run, to lead it into a better and more sustainable path.

What Inspirational Quote Would You Live By? 

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do that’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible” – Francis of Assisi

This is an inspirational quote I would live by, I really like it. It is all about to start doing those things you must do, what’s necessary. Things that would otherwise prevent you from mowing forward. Then you can broaden your horizon, part from doing the things you have to do, you do a little bit more. Pretty soon, when you do all the things that are necessary and which is possible, you can do things you never thought were possible. Nothing is impossible!

Do You Love To Travel? If so, What Is Your Dream Destination & Why? 

I love to travel and discover new places, people and cultures around the world. It is hard for me to decide which is my dream destination. I love to travel to tropical destinations with warm climate, sandy beaches and crystal clear waters. I am also a nature enthusiast and like to explore nature and wildlife in different countries. I have never been to South America, so I would very much to travel there some day.

Do You Consider Glooby a Sustainable Business? Why?

Glooby was created with the ambition to create a travel site that is not only the best in the world, but also, the best for the world.

The tourism industry has a major impact on our environment and is responsible for 5% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.

We think it was a great initiative to create a travel site that takes into account how different travel options affect the environment, so we have the opportunity to choose the most sustainable trips and reduce our environmental impact as much as possible. There are so many beautiful places in the world and we believe it’s important that we take care of the environment and reduce our emissions in order to leave the travel destinations in the same condition it was in, as when we arrived.

In addition to our mission and our vision for how Glooby may affect the tourism industry in the long run, we think it’s very important for us at Glooby to do what we can to make our company both internally and externally as sustainable as we can. We do this by working with organizations dedicated to sustainable tourism that are reliable, such as the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). We recognize that our biggest impact on the environment is our energy usage for the hosting of our website and servers, that’s why we are powered by Rackspace whose data centers are powered on 100% certified renewable energy.

Finding the Right Cause Is Hard To Do, Why Did You Choose Sustainability as Your Focus?

We chose sustainability as our focus because of the total lack of sustainability in the travel industry. For those interested in sustainability, there was no way to see the differences between travel alternatives. We saw the opportunity to make it easier for businesses and individuals to travel more sustainably. In an increasingly globalized world with a fast growing tourism industry, it is more important than ever that we make a transition from inefficient trips to more efficient and sustainable. We can preserve our beautiful countries and destinations in the same condition as they were yesterday. We also believe it has become increasingly important for our generation and today’s companies to consider sustainability. We like to think we can change the world, make the world a little better by changing purchasing behavior in the tourism industry.

What is Your Dream Accomplishment for 2015 

My Dream Accomplishment for 2015 is to launch the first release of Glooby. At this moment we have launched Glooby in a BETA version in order to test all basic functions before the first real launch. During the final release, we will have improvements thanks to all the beta testers (thank you all!), more sustainability, general flight features, hotel features and more travel suppliers. That’s when we for the first time can take the first step in our process of changing the tourism industry. It is very fun and we are looking forward to it.

The first release will be launched in the end of August, 2015.

How Can People Get Involved with Glooby? 

People can get involved with Glooby by connecting to our social media pages. We are active and post daily the latest news about Glooby and give inspiring tips of dream destinations and how to travel more sustainably.

Where Can We Find You Online?

Website: www.glooby.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gloobycom
Instagram: www.instagram.com/glooby
Twitter: www.twitter.com/gloobycom
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/glooby
Google+: www.google.com/+glooby