MyRealTrip, Follow-up Investment in Startup 'GuideDrive'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] MyRealTrip (CEO Lee Dong-geon), an operator of a travel product brokerage platform, announced on the 5th that it has made a follow-up investment in GuideLive, a travel guide management planning company, following its initial investment last year.

GuideLive has introduced a guide-centered business model where guides directly develop and manage products, breaking away from the distribution structure in which overseas local travel agencies compose and supply package products. It was selected as a venture company by the Korea Tourism Organization in 2020 and as a startup company for the Early Startup Package by the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development in 2020. Based on this, GuideLive has continuously launched various domestic travel products such as museum docent tours, Seoul Cheonggyecheon tours, and Busan old town tours, recording 100% month-over-month sales growth for the past three months.

Last year, MyRealTrip entered the package travel market by making an initial investment in GuideLive, and the online live-streamed virtual tours jointly planned and launched in June surpassed 6,000 users within five months of release, gaining popularity. Through this investment, MyRealTrip plans to work with GuideLive to solve the issue of insufficient tour products despite the number of flight reservation payments exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels, and to accelerate service diversification including domestic travel.

Lee Dong-geon, CEO of MyRealTrip, said, "After COVID-19, we were able to secure new growth engines such as virtual tours and docent tours through collaboration with GuideLive," adding, "These new forms of travel will establish themselves as a major area for MyRealTrip even after COVID-19."