LINE, the most popular communication app in Japan with nearly 200 million active users per month, has created a travel booking site.
LINE Travel will allow users to search, compare prices and book domestic and international hotels, tour packages and airfare from 250 companies including JTB, Japan’s largest travel agency.
LINE Travel is now part of the platform’s “Commerce Gateway” that is intended to allow users to manage all of their purchasing needs in the app. In addition to the newly added Travel, the Commerce section includes retail shopping and food-delivery services.
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In a news release, the company says making travel services available in the app “enables users to be more spontaneous when the urge to travel strikes while chatting with friends for instance and look up hotels and other details right away.”
LINE Travel will also send users trip recommendations and trending topics featured on travel TV shows.
The app is launching with the ability to search and compare prices of accommodations in Japan and overseas. Flight comparison will be available starting in October, and domestic and international package tours will be added in December.
The company says it aims to have gross transaction volume valued at 100 billion JPY (about $900 million USD) for fiscal year 2019.
About one-quarter of LINE’s users are in Japan, and the rest are overseas, primarily in Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia. In addition to purchasing services, the app offers messaging, music, entertainment, mobile payments, financial services and more.