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How GetYourGuide Plans to Upend the Travel Industry

Travel

GetYourGuide is a travel startup with the potential to disrupt the travel industry. Since most countries across the globe shut down in March of 2020, the travel business has suffered tremendous setbacks. As the nations begin to open up once again, there is an innovative and comprehensive travel service that is standing by to provide to become an integral part of the new normal. GetYourGuide will be part of the industry and we believe it will help in setting new standards for travel throughout the world.

What is GetYourGuide?

According to Wikipedia, the startup is Swiss in origin. It was founded in 2007 by Johannes Reck and Tao Tao. The founders decided to create a service that would assist tourists in navigating foreign cities. They both experienced difficulty getting around and it gave them the idea for developing a new peer-to-peer internet platform that brought tourists and amateur guides together initially. As their plan took shape, they refined the platform to provide professional tour guides for booking activities throughout the world's major cities. GetYourGuide falls under two major categories including a travel agency, an online marketplace for travelers to connect with tour guides, and book excursions.

The business sells tours and excursions. It has expanded services to include tickets to multiple tourist attractions and even offers to book for cooking classes. GetYourGuide provides over 40,000 different products throughout the world. The startup aims to provide travelers with a hookup for simplifying tourist and excursion activities. The website is accessible on Android and iOS. This is a one-of-a-kind company that not only provides travel services but important linkages between travelers and other helpful resources for building an itinerary. This limits the competition because of its uniqueness in the marketplace. GetYourGuide doesn't provide services but rather links travelers with those that do. They screen providers and those receiving bad reviews consistently are deleted from the choices offered. This is an effort to maintain superior quality and consumer satisfaction.

Funding for GetYourGuide

When the founders first launched their idea in the form of a business, they received initial funding from parents and other family members. The idea grew and it became apparent that more funding would be necessary to realize their lofty goals. Although it was difficult to secure funding at first, by January of 2013, GetYourGuide received $14 million in a round of Series A funding. This allowed them to launch their mobile apps and add over 23,000 activities and tours from destinations around the world. Within 3 months of receiving its Series A funding, GetYourGuide acquired Gidsy to continue the development of mobile apps with its team of a dozen developers. The company established an office in Zurich for engineering teams with more regional offices opening throughout major cities in the world.

According to Tech Crunch, GetYourGuide was impacted by the decrease in travel due to the pandemic. New hope in the form of $97 million in a revolving credit facility, the business has access to any necessary operational funding as we slowly come back from the lull in travel. The funds are designated as a stopgap measure until things return to normal. Although tourism has allowed to a crawl, likely, travel-starved citizens of the world will once again seek exciting adventures once the threat of peril is gone.

Before the pandemic, GetYourGuide raised $600 million in equity capital with $484 million raised in 2019 in a round of Series E funding. The company had achieved unicorn status with a valuation that exceeded the requisite $1 billion to join this exclusive group. Yet another equity round is expected to close within the next 18 months. The business now has ample backing with its revolving funding line and more investment rounds in the future.

The waiting game has been a killer for businesses related to the travel industry. It's put most of them on hold or limited business transactions to a trickle. Even unicorn status companies have had to dig deep into their reserves just to stay afloat. It's been a year since the abrupt shutdown occurred. Analysts cannot predict what may happen shortly, but GetYourGuide is hunkered down and ready to resume its forward progression as allowed.

The potential for GetYourGuide to disrupt the travel industry

According to the GetYourGuide official website, the Switzerland-based startup is a travel company that aims to change how the world travels. They're set on delivering the most comprehensive enhancements to each travel experience with a bit of personalization to create the most memorable moments possible while easing the stress of bringing it all together. The internet-based platform connects the right people to create dream vacations for travelers and bring new business to guides and tour agencies. The goal is to create seamless travel experiences for travelers in a way that eliminates all the stress and hassle. The service is made for travelers and has received high marks for perfect timing and exceptional organization.

Final thoughts

GetYourGuide is a startup that has done what no other travel company has done so far. They've brought travelers together with the best tour guides and activities that the world has to offer. Their network of professionals in the travel industry makes it easy and free of hassle to book excursions and tours. They connect people with outstanding services that are top-rated in their niche to build the perfect vacation. So far, no other company offers a deep level of commitment to assisting travelers in creating the ideal vacation. We live in a society that is accustomed to continual improvements in convenience and creature comforts. As businesses rise to consumer demands they continue to develop higher expectations. This is good for businesses because it gives them more directions to go in providing services that edge out andy competitors in their niche. GetYourGuide has succeeded in accomplishing this. There is every indication that the company will continue to do so in an evolving world where little stays the same.

Allen Lee

Written by Allen Lee

Allen Lee is a Toronto-based freelance writer who studied business in school but has since turned to other pursuits. He spends more time than is perhaps wise with his eyes fixed on a screen either reading history books, keeping up with international news, or playing the latest releases on the Steam platform, which serve as the subject matter for much of his writing output. Currently, Lee is practicing the smidgen of Chinese that he picked up while visiting the Chinese mainland in hopes of someday being able to read certain historical texts in their original language.

Read more posts by Allen Lee

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