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Ambassador Ha Lam, CEO and Co-founder of Triip.me, is the latest recipient of the Digital Innovation Asia Award for the Most Impactful Digital Motivation announced last week. Based in Vietnam, Triip.me is changing the future of tourism by creating personalized tours for visitors in 86 countries and over 600 cities around the world.

The Digital Innovation Asia Award recognizes Ha’s travel platform for understanding the relationship between technology and tourism, creating positive travel experiences, bettering guest services, and fueling the interest of consumers. Moreover, the award identifies Triip.me as one of the most “most innovative, creative, and performance-driven e-tourism initiatives in Asia” according to Digital Innovation Asia.

After quitting her job and selling her house to jumpstart Triip.me in 2013, the mother of three and her husband have gone above and beyond to improve the quality of tourism in Vietnam, which has since expanded to other countries. What makes Triip.me unique from other tourism sites is its focus on the tour guides themselves. While these tour guides may not be deemed “professional”, they have a passion for their respective cities and offer a unique and local perspective for visitors who travel from all over the world.

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“As for me, a [tour] guide isn’t merely an employee, but also a companion and friend to holidaymakers. The double ‘i’ in ‘Triip me’ is indicative of the spirit. ‘i’ implies solitary travelers, while ‘triip’ sounds like a prolonged exclamation with the guides’ company,” Ha said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

In addition to the Digital Innovation Asia Award, Ha was one of seven young Vietnamese individuals to appear on Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List in February of 2016 under the category of Retail and E-commerce. Last February, she was chosen to represent Vietnam at a startup entrepreneur meeting in Switzerland, according to TuoTreNews.

Currently, Triip.me has completed a $500,000 seed investment courtesy of Gobi Partners. Triip.me plans to utilize this money to hire new employees, draw in more users, and increase market expansion.

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