[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] "We will create a service that makes overseas travel as easy as domestic travel."
On the 26th, Jung Myung-hoon, CEO of Yanolja, held the company's first press conference since its founding and said, "We will apply the rational pricing and convenience of travel experiences proven in the domestic market to overseas travel, making overseas destinations feel closer to customers."
On the same day, CEO Jung announced the travel product ‘Overseas Special Deals,’ which combines overseas flights and accommodations. This is Yanolja’s own planned product following the launch of overseas flight reservation services in May and overseas accommodation reservation services in July. CEO Jung explained, "We focused on short-distance free travel and prepared overseas travel services. By adding Overseas Special Deals after flight and accommodation reservation services, we have created an environment where customers can easily travel overseas as if traveling domestically."
Yanolja’s Overseas Special Deals focus on destinations with flight times between 1 to 4 hours. CEO Jung’s goal is to create a travel environment that is easy and convenient enough for spontaneous weekend trips. He said, "Although demand for overseas travel continues to increase, inconvenient product search environments and burdensome prices have been obstacles. Yanolja will build a differentiated environment from existing companies in all aspects including search, reservation, payment, customer service, and pricing."
The first travel destinations CEO Jung focused on are Japan and Vietnam, which are popular among the 20s and 30s age group. Overseas Special Deals bundle flights and accommodations to offer discounts of 20-30% while eliminating the inconveniences of existing low-cost products. Unlike traditional package tours that are canceled or changed if the minimum number of participants is not met, Yanolja’s Overseas Special Deals guarantee 100% departure upon booking. Furthermore, unlike so-called 'Airtel' products that bundle unpopular accommodations for group tourists far from city centers at low prices, Yanolja selects accommodations popular with free independent travelers to create its products. CEO Jung explained, "We drastically eliminated the middle stage in the overseas travel market and created customer-centric products rather than supplier-centric ones. This was possible thanks to Yanolja’s unique recommendation logic and customer behavior data technology."
As of September, Yanolja’s overseas flight reservation transaction volume grew 98% month-over-month, and overseas accommodation bookings grew 100%. With rapid growth since launch, Yanolja has high expectations for its outbound business including Overseas Special Deals. Especially, with overseas travel demand on the verge of exploding and mobile-centric consumption becoming more widespread, customer inflow is expected to increase further.
Accordingly, the number of products will be significantly increased. The plan is to raise about 120 Overseas Special Deals products to around 200 by the end of the year. Yanolja will further target travel cities in Japan and Vietnam and is considering expansion to Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Indonesia next year. CEO Jung emphasized, "Yanolja has proven convenience and price benefits as Korea’s leading travel and leisure platform with 4.3 million monthly visitors. Based on accumulated capabilities, we will expand our influence in the overseas travel industry as well."
Adding overseas travel to domestic travel is expected to continue driving performance growth. Since launching its service in 2014, Yanolja has expanded domestic travel products from accommodations to leisure, tickets, and mobility. This year, it launched new categories such as space rental and Home & Villa, broadening its reach into the leisure sector.
Yanolja has maintained a profitable trend while recording an average annual sales growth rate of over 50% since 2019 through aggressive investments every year. As of the third quarter this year, transaction volume has exceeded 1 trillion KRW, continuing its growth. Even after being valued as a ‘unicorn’ with a corporate value exceeding 1 trillion KRW, the company is steadily increasing its corporate value. CEO Jung stated, "Yanolja’s value depends on how easily and conveniently it makes customers’ travel and leisure experiences. We will continuously develop the platform so that customers can find all the fun activities on the Yanolja application the moment they step outside their door."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
