Tourplus Technology Sdn Bhd (Tourplus), a Malaysian travel startup that provides an online marketplace for travelers providing personalised itineraries linking travelers to local guides today announced that it had raised an investment of US$1 million (RM4.1 million). The parties in the syndicated investment took the lead from Jin Hui Wong, a Malaysian based business angel, together with a Malaysian corporation GT-MAX, followed by SOSV and its accelerator Chinaccelerator and a few other undisclosed investors.

2020 was meant to be the Malaysia Visit Year and would have boosted Malaysia’s tourism sector instead it ended with the worst crisis of the tourism industry Malaysia has ever faced with RM45 billion in losses reported in June. Being in the industry and affected, Tourplus took on this time to work on their product expansion on their platform, work on raising the numbers of registered tour guides and strategise on marketing efforts. Bullish on moving forward, Rickson Goh the CEO & Founder is steadfast in steering the company to a positive positioning with the investment injected to the company.

Also read, Tourplus raises US$400k to enter China tourism market.

“It has been a challenging year but an exciting one at the same time as we work towards a product expansion with the aim to be the ‘Tripadvisor’ or ‘Dianping’ based in SEA, strategise on strengthening our social media presence with a strong marketing push and talent acquisition to accommodate our expansion plans,” Rickson said.

Rickson also stated that 40% of the investment portion is allocated towards the product platform expansion and refining their technology solution, 30% towards marketing effort in their bid to expand market base by securing clients and establishing their brand across the region and 30% of the funds allocated towards building the manpower strength. Founded in 2015, the startup pivoted to a more market friendly mobile app in 2018 with a tour guide focused app targeting 300% of revenue increase, at the time. To date, Tourplus has managed to build strength of 3,000+ registered tour guides all over Malaysia and SEA with a hit of 10,000 users within the 2019-2020 time frame. Tourplus provides certified driver guides and customisable itineraries that are reviewed by other travelers around the world.

As the lead investor, Jin Hui Wong said that ”We are optimistic with the development that Tourplus is showcasing. Although the travel related business has been heavily affected at the moment, we think the post-pandemic situation will be like China where the domestic tourism rebound over the Golden Week holiday. We are encouraged by the team’s tenacity and the positive outlook of the South East Asia tourism market in the near future which we believe will rebound as well. ”

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Tourplus, Malaysia’s online travel platform, announced today an investment of USD 400k by SOSV Chinaccelerator and a China private investor. The financing will be used to fund Tourplus’s continued inbound expansion and for further investment in its proprietary online travel platform. Tourplus has started with expansion by getting into Chinaccelerator Batch 16 (Asia’s first Startup Accelerator since 2010) to expand our business solutions to the China market.

Tourplus is a platform that eases travel planning by connecting customers with local tour guides and providing personalized itinerary, To date, Tourplus has garnered 2 million tourists and is now targeting at the China market to hit 3 million Asian travelers this comes naturally for Tourplus as we are focused on bringing Chinese travelers to Malaysia for the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign, supported by the Malaysian government. Apart from travel planning, Tourplus provides services like airport transfer, day tour and customizable tour (multi-day tour). Customers are able to book a customizable day tour with pricing by per car and have various vehicle models option to choose range from 5 seater cars up to 16 seater van, it will be a relief for a family or group travelers who want to travel in a group and will be cheaper as it pricing by per vehicle.

Lately in Malaysia airport transfers has become a hassle that have left many waiting in line and spending too much time getting a ride home, Tourplus now has this exciting solution for travelers worldwide to enjoy an irresistible offer of RM 60 flat rate for Airport Transfers to and from Kuala Lumpur city, you are now able to book in advance to enjoy this, no more waiting inline our driver guides will be waiting for you now ahead of time.

Since officially launching its app in November 2015, Tourplus has 2400 experienced local guides across Southeast Asia and served more than 10,000 travelers and is now one of the leading travel platforms/app in Malaysia. In addition, Tourplus is the only travel app that connects driver-guides with travelers. “At Tourplus, we always believe in working together for the best interest of everyone during their travels, we bring with us a great solution to travelers around the world be it leisure or business we got you”, said Rickson Goh, CEO and Founder of Tourplus.

About Tourplus
Tourplus is an online marketplace for travelers to plan their holiday without needing to worry about security, language barrier, and local knowledge as our local guides are there to assist. Tourplus provides private guides and customizable itineraries that are verified and reviewed. Everyone has access to detailed travel itineraries from time to price and honest reviews by other
travelers around the world.

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The travel and tourism industry plays an important role in the economy of Malaysia. According to the report by World Travel and Tourism Council, the total contribution of this industry to the country’s GDP was MYR 161.0 billion (i.e. 14.9% of total GDP) in 2014. In the same year, Travel and Tourism supported 724,500 jobs (5.3% of total employment).

Observing the untouched potential of the travel market, Malaysia has turned into an attractive spot for startups. Generally speaking, there are many factors fuelling the rapid growth of new businesses across all sectors in Malaysia including:

• The young population in the country
• Rapid internet connectivity
• Increased mobile penetration
• Efficient Bureaucracy
• Corporate and Business language is ‘English’
• Lastly, existing startups are extremely expat friendly

The above reasons have accelerated the advent of innumerable startups in the travel industry too! We have listed few Malaysian travel startups below that might be useful to travellers visiting this destination anytime soon.

#1- Tripviss

Founded by Chan Lee Siong and Jacky Chan last year, Tripviss is a travel marketplace to help trippers easily discover, compare and book their unique tours offered by licensed tour operators. For the convenience of the travellers, the website provides thousands of tours at best prices, in 150+ countries and 1000 cities covering interesting themes like Umrah, Haj and Diving.

Language(s): English

#2- Tripovo

Launched by Hannah Pearson and Steven Wong last year, Tripovo combines the expertise and support of a travel agent with the convenience and savings of booking online. This brand allows the tourists to create travel itinerary with a list of curated activities and hotels. After this, bookings can be made online within minutes. Due to this seamless process, users will be further attracted to explore the different corners of the world and get the best travel experiences.

Language(s): English

#3- Tourplus

Founded by Rickson Goh and Kyle Foo in 2014, Tourplus is an online platform that offers travel itineraries when the users have selected their destinations. Popular places like Malacca, Bali, Singapore, Tokyo and Bangkok are included in it. The company has sourced the best local tour guides on their website. Through a messaging system, the guides help travellers plan their trips even before bookings are made! This sets TourPlus apart from its competitors.

Language(s): English, Chinese

#4- LocalUsher

Launched by Sabrina Cheng and Hui Ling Ng in 2014, LocalUsher helps travellers book experiences city-wise. It connects the city locals to travellers, thus assisting them to offer exceptional trip experiences. The website contains something for all travellers – from glamping to staying in a boathouse to food hunting tours. On the other hand, as noticeable above, the city locals get an opportunity to earn in their leisure time.

Language(s): English

#5 CatchThatBus

Founded by Viren Doshi and Ashwin Jeyapalasingam in 2012, CatchThatBus is an online travel agent (OTA) that allows trippers to browse travel options and purchase bus tickets from a range of trusted operators to over 500 destinations in both Malaysia and Singapore. It is a one-stop location for information, reviews, ticketing and purchasing. This bus booking service also provides chartering services for families, groups, NGOs and corporates.

Language(s): English, Indonesian

#6 TaxiMonger

Launched by Nizran Noordin and Shafiu in 2012, TaxiMonger lets the travellers book cab tickets and review them online. This mobile application comes as a relief for commuters who have experienced the notoriety of Malaysian taxi drivers. Most of the travellers complain that they are over-charged in this country. Not only this, the users of the app can easily read the past comments of a particular taxi by its plate number. This unique feature makes it different from other taxi brands.

Language(s): English

#7 LagiSatu

Founded by Faeez Fadhlillah and Juergen Gallistl in 2013, LagiSatu is a hotel comparison website that helps travellers find the cheapest hotels with the click of a button. Interestingly, all the prices in the website are as by the provider and are presented to the backpackers free of charge i.e. with no hidden fees. The company also claims that it will help the users save up to 70% on hotel bookings.

Language(s): English, Spanish, French, German

#8 SnapRaw

Launched by Howard Choy, Kyle Lee and Alvin Lim last year, SnapRaw is an online social platform where trippers can upload their photos together with relevant information. The photos taken by strangers are obtainable without sharing personal contact. Every user gets 10 GB of free space.

Language(s): English

#9 Trouver

Founded by Fairuz Ismail in 2014, Trouver is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-based location tracking app that can be used by travellers to keep a tab on anything, anywhere at any time. The trippers just need to attach Trouver device to their belongings. When they have done this, the users can find out the real-time location on the smartphones.

Language(s): English

#10 CurrenSeek

Launched by Amir Haghbin and Hakim Karim last year, CurrenSeek is a must-have for all travellers. It is a location-based community-driven currency comparator app that empowers people to save up to 30% before their journey even begins. In simpler words, it assists travellers to find out which money changers or banks offer the best exchange rates near them. The app uses popular mapping apps like Google Maps and Waze for offering navigational support. To assist other users of CurrenSeek, travellers can even write reviews about any currency exchange facility.

Language(s): English

If you have an interesting travel startup, we would love to know about it. Drop us a mail at editor@travhq.com.

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Last month during TravelRave, we came across many interesting travel startups from the region. One of them was Tourplus from Malaysia. Tourplus offers a platform for travellers to find expert local guides to explore a destination and also check itineraries created by others to see what places they are exploring.

The attractions included in the itinerary are listed along with their TripAdvisor rating to give an added assurance to the travellers. The website interface is simple and you can easily look up attractions that other travellers have recommended. Like we mentioned, users can book a private tour guide through the website and if they are a local expert, they can also register as a tour guide and help travellers explore their city.

We had a chat with Kyle Foo, Co-Founder of Tourplus. Here is a short video of him explaining why the travellers needed Tourplus:

You can try Tourplus to check out the itineraries by other travellers or to find a tour guide for your next trip. Visit them on www.tourplus.my.

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