Despite just 12 months ago there being talk of a pretty confident future ahead, tour distribution platform startup Gunyah has shut its doors - temporarily, at least.
CEO Luke Ford confirmed last week that he left the company a month ago and has returned to his native Australia after running the business for over two years from Vietnam.
Gunyah was conceived in early-2011 (and launched in September of the same year) as a way for small and local tour providers to expose their products to a wider and global marketplace.
It was backed by local travel specialist WHL Group and a large number of tour and package holiday operators around the world.
Ford says he will be returning to Vietnam in the future to work on "grass roots" adventure travel projects.
WHL boss Len Cordiner says the company "could not generate the volume of bookings needed to make the business work", so a decision was made to shut the service down.
He says:
"As for the future, the company itself will not close, but in the next phase of development we will focus more on supplying technology to existing players (DMOs, OTAs and tour operators)."
This, he adds, could eventually lead to a similar service that WHL provides to property owners through the Hotel Link Solutions business.
A year ago, Ford conceded the company had made a number of "wrong assumptions" when developing the business, but it was fortunate to have the support of WHL and original investors.
The customer base had also "shifted slightly" towards the higher end of the marketplace, Ford said at the time, adding:
"We’re focusing on private packages of a high quality, both in the experiences and activities included, as well as accommodation. It means a shift in how we market ourselves… changes are afoot."