Thailand’s Kasikorn Bank subsidiary, Beacon Venture Capital, has invested $25 million for a majority stake in Traveligo, a Thailand domestic online travel agency founded in 2015 by Anupong Kriangkrailipikorn and which will be rebranded to Gother.
The news, announced at the first K Travel Tech Summit, organized by the Korea Tourism Organization and held in conjunction with WiT Seoul on Wednesday, will see the domestic online travel agency expand its services overseas, enabling Thai travelers to buy travel in destinations outside Thailand. Currently, its business is purely domestic – Thai travelers traveling within their own country.
As part of its rebranding and expansion, Traveligo will partner with TakeMeTour, an online marketplace for tours and activities in Thailand. Co-founder and CEO Taro Amornched, who founded TakeMeTour also in 2015, said this was a significant moment for Thailand’s travel startup scene and would provide fuel for other Thai travel startups.
For Anupong, it’s a major milestone for his startup, which was established with $1 million in funding from his family. Asked during the panel at K Travel Tech Summit if his family was happy with him, he laughed and said, “We are very excited about this next phase of growth.”
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He said TakeMeTour’s partnership was also critical for this next phase of growth.
Taro added that with that 99% of TakeMeTour’s customers coming from overseas to enjoy Thailand experiences, the two companies made a good fit in both customers and product. “By adding tours and activities to the Gother platform, we can make it more exciting,” said Taro, “and inspire travelers beyond flights and hotels.”
Anupong said the bank’s investment would also mean access to the 20 million users of the bank’s lifestyle super app, K Plus.
For initial expansion, Anupong has identified Korea, Japan and Singapore as its first markets.
The timing is also right for expansion given the tourism recovery in Thailand, in both inbound and outbound. Taro said Thailand’s inbound tourism was about two-thirds recovered, with markets such as Korea, India and Singapore leading the way. China, accounting for 30% of arrivals pre-pandemic, is still lagging.
Taro said that Koreans traveling to Thailand were being influenced by Thai dramas and were visiting eating spots made popular in those series. In the same way, Anupong said Thais traveling to South Korea were similarly influenced by K-drama and both are optimistic that this two-way traffic would augur well for Gother’s future expansion into South Korea.
As for a possible merger between TakeMeTour and Gother, both did not discount the option.
*This article originally appeared on WebinTravel.
*Correction: This article originally incorrectly named Kasikorn as the OTA instead of Traveligo.