Online Tour Acquires 20% Stake... Secures Call Option for Additional Investment
[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] Leisure platform YogiYottae is making a full-scale entry into the overseas travel market by acquiring shares of Online Tour, an online travel agency with 20 years of experience.
YogiYottae announced on the 7th that it secured about 20% of Online Tour's shares along with a call option for additional future investments. The investment scale is reported to be about 50 billion KRW.
Online Tour, established in 2000, is an online travel agency providing real-time flight search engines and reservation services. It led the digitalization of the travel industry, which was centered on branches and agencies. It is evaluated to have removed price bubbles in overseas travel through its online-centered business. Its strengths include know-how related to overseas travel products accumulated over 20 years and industry partnerships. Core products include domestic and international flight and accommodation reservations, premium services for corporate and group clients, and package tours. It also handles themed travel such as local tours and cruises. According to the latest available BSP flight ticket issuance performance, it recorded about 381.6 billion KRW in 2017, ranking 5th domestically.
YogiYottae views the acquisition of Online Tour shares as an investment for the overseas travel market in the post-COVID-19 era. Last year, it added gourmet services by acquiring MangoPlate, and this year it selected overseas travel as a new business. Utilizing the platform influence with a monthly active user (MAU) count of 3.2 million, it plans to simultaneously supply domestic travel and leisure products as well as overseas travel products.
Jung Myunghoon, CEO of YogiYottae, said, “YogiYottae, which has focused on the domestic travel and leisure market, and Online Tour, which has led the overseas travel sector, have no overlapping areas, so we expect great synergy between the two,” adding, “YogiYottae has been able to instantly secure Online Tour’s experience and product competitiveness, which has maintained a top 5 industry position for over 20 years.” He continued, “YogiYottae plans to improve Online Tour’s platform by leveraging its technological capabilities as a leading online platform in the industry.”
Park Hyewon, CEO of Online Tour, said, “We judged that YogiYottae, which has solid technological capabilities and a young, abundant user base, is the optimal partner to prepare together for the post-COVID-19 era,” and added, “We expect this to be an opportunity to develop Online Tour’s platform and take a leap forward.”
As part of the new business expansion, large-scale recruitment will continue. YogiYottae plans to hire about 200 new employees, focusing on planners and developers.
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