August 8, 2016: Malaysian travel platform Touristly has landed strategic investment from KL-based Tune Labs – an incubator and accelerator headed by AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, and Lim Kiang Onn.
Along with the investment, Touristly will also integrate its activities with companies and brands in the Tune Group, such as AirAsia’s Travel 3Sixty, Tune Hotels, Tune Protext, and AirAsia BIG.
Touristly was launched in 2015 as a platform that enables travelers to customize holidays with ease. A central feature on Touristly is the interactive trip planner that allows travellers to curate their own holidays with the thousands of deals available on the platform, share their itineraries, and book them.
The startup currently offer 7,000 deals on tours, attractions, activities, spas and restaurants in over 70 destinations, and will be adding more around the world.
“We are excited to be part of the Tune Group family as it complements our services for travellers and tourists. After a traveller books their flights and accommodation, the natural next step is to plan the holiday itinerary itself and this is where we come in,” said founder and CEO of Touristly Aaron Sarma.
“We will be working to grow our base to shadow AirAsia and AirAsia X’s 120 destinations. This will be in favour of completing the travel experience for anyone who flies with the airline,” he added.
According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), travelers spend 40 per cent of their travel budget on on-ground activities. That amounts to about $860 billion and Asia alone represents a market opportunity of at least US$100 billion. AirAsia flies 55 million passengers across the region yearly and this integration intends to leverage that.
Source: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/malaysia-touristly-secures-investment-round-from-tune-labs-49934/, 8 Aug 2016