Top 10 Asian travel startups that crowdsource tours from local guides

The sharing economy is growing at a clip. For cars alone, Uber has lead the charge for other apps like Lyft, GetAround, and SideCar. In terms of hotels, Airbnb heads the pack. And now, in the travel industry, crowdsourcing for local tour guides is becoming a serious trend. At Tech In Asia we know about ten contenders that span across the region from Indonesia to Japan, and we’ve got them all here for you to check out.

The concept that all of these startups have is simple. Coordinate with local tour guides to develop tours for travellers – some conventional, some very adventurous – and serve them up in a nice and simple platform. Where they differentiate and win depends on a few things, including:

• How good their tours are
• How many tours they can offer
• What their margins are
• SEO: hitting the right travelers searching on Google
• Their marketing budget

That final one just might be the real make or break, since many of these startups resemble each other so much. Let’s take a look at the ten (not in any particular order).

1. TripTrus (Indonesia)

TripTrus started as a more traditional tour platform before getting more into the crowdsourced and local tour guides model. The cool thing is it’s priority is adventure, which is a specific niche for a specific type of traveller.

2. TripThirsty (India)

TripThirsty is based in India, so if you’re traveling to India, specifically Bangalore, TripThirsty is the site for you. One differentiator that TripThirsty has is its formed all around hashtags, making it easier for users to search by their personal interests. Unlike TripTrus, this startup is, from the ground up, all about crowdsourcing local tour guides. It started out like a Pinterest for travelers and eventually ended up serving tours.

3. Thrillophilia (India)

Like TripTrus, Thrillophilia takes tours from operators and puts them online into a marketplace. The difference is that Thrillophilia has been around for over three years and covers more of the country. It also has way more L’s in its name than anybody else. Thrillophillia sees more than 20 percent of its customers returning, which means that it’s doing very well. On the other hand, it’s not as disruptive in the tourism space as the next one on the list since it doesn’t go for local casual tour guides. It’s just a platform for existing guides.

4. Triip.me (Vietnam)

A recent entry into this market, Triip is all about crowdsourcing tours from local guides. The company works on sourcing the guides – often amateurs – and has a pretty spiffy design. Vietnam, which oftentimes gets mixed reviews on its travel experiences, desperately needs something like Triip to give a warmer face to its travel industry. Triip goes out and finds odd, unique tours, such as taking holidaymakers into the world’s biggest caves and experiencing Zen tea ceremonies.

5. MyRealTrip (South Korea)