Booking.com Announces the 10 Award Recipients of its 2018 Accelerator Program for Startups in Sustainable Tourism

Amsterdam (ots/PRNewswire) - Indian Startups Sakha and Global
Himalayan Expedition are awarded the highest grants from
Booking.com's EUR2 million fund

Today Booking.com, one of the world's largest e-commerce companies
and digital technology leader, announced the 10 sustainable tourism
startups receiving scaling grants as part of its 2018 Booking Booster
accelerator program. After three weeks of workshops and intensive
coaching sessions led entirely by Booking.com employees and experts,
the program culminated in a final pitch to receive grants of up to
EUR500k from Booking.com's EUR2 million fund in order to help support
the next stage of the startups' projected growth.

The 10 teams of finalists pitched their scaling plans to a live
audience and panel of expert judges in Amsterdam, with Indian
startups Sakha Consulting Wings: Women on Wheels
(http://sakhaconsultingwings.com/our-programmes-2/women-on-wheels/)
and Global Himalayan Expedition (http://www.ghe.co.in/) being awarded
this year's highest grants of EUR325k and EUR400k respectively. Sakha
Consulting is a unique social enterprise, launched to offer safe
transport solutions for women by women in selected cities in India,
providing livelihoods with dignity through professional driving
opportunities to resource-poor women as part of the 'Women on Wheels'
(WOW) initiative. Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) organizes impact
expeditions to provide clean energy and digital education access to
the remote mountain communities of the Himalayas, helping to put them
on the map for future travelers to explore.

"The vision and passion that we've seen from all the startups this
year has been truly inspiring," said Gillian Tans, President and CEO
of Booking.com. "I was especially impressed with Wheel the World's
moving mission to empower people with disabilities to explore the
world within the adventure travel sector, Sakha's commitment to
empowering women in India to take control of their livelihoods and of
course with how GHE is literally bringing light to remote mountain
villages through their Himalayan expeditions. We're all looking
forward to seeing how their plans unfold over the coming weeks and
months as we work together to bring their vision for a more
sustainable travel industry to even more destinations worldwide."

To read the full release and for more information on each of the
startups, please visit Booking.com's global media room (https://globa
lnews.booking.com/bookingcom-announces-the-10-award-recipients-of-its
-2018-accelerator-program-for-startups-in-sustainable-tourism/).

About Booking.com:

Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com B.V. has grown from a
small Dutch start-up to one of the largest travel e-commerce
companies in the world. Part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG),
Booking.com now employs more than 17,000 employees in 198 offices in
70 countries worldwide.

With a mission to empower people to experience the world, Booking.com
invests in digital technology that helps take the friction out of
travel. At Booking.com, we connect travelers with the world's largest
selection of incredible places to stay, including everything from
apartments, vacation homes, and family-run B&Bs to 5-star luxury
resorts, tree houses and even igloos. The Booking.com website and
mobile apps are available in 43 languages, offer over 28 million
total reported listings and cover more than 130,000 destinations in
228 countries and territories worldwide.

Follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/bookingcom) and Instagram
(https://www.instagram.com/bookingcom/), like us on Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/bookingcom), and for the latest news, data
and insights, please visit our global media room
(https://globalnews.booking.com/).

For further information, contact the Booking.com Press Office at
[email protected]

ORIGINAL APA-OTS TEXT - THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE IS SUBJECT TO THE EXCLUSIVE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ISSUER | PRN

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