Travel.jp, Japan’s leading travel metasearch operated by Venture Republic Inc., and LINE Travel, operated by LINE Corporation that runs Japan’s dominant messaging app, have joined forces to combine their brands and services rebranding as LINE TRAVEL jp.
In a joint announcement of the strategic partnership, the two Tokyo-based company said they aimed to provide a quality one-stop service and a unique cross-platform travel brand to address the end-to-end needs of travellers.
Partnership sealed with a handshake: Venture Republic CEO Kei Shibata (2nd right) and LINE CEO Takeshi Idezawa (2nd left), with LINE executive officer Hideo Fujii (left) and Venture Republic COO Kenichi Shibata (right)
“We are going to cover all phases, before travel, during travel and after travel, by leveraging knowledge from Venture Republic’s Travel.jp and LINE’s mobile messaging platform. We will provide the perfect and excellent travel arrangement and experience to all travellers and also create the future of travel,” added the statement.
Travellers using the LINE platform can search for domestic & overseas flights and domestic & overseas tour packages on LINE TRAVEL jp in October and December this year respectively when the services are launched.
Additionally, LINE TRAVE.jp plans to provide “prompt and appropriate” customised recommendations based on the traveller’s requirements utilising the location information on LINE and travel guide articles written by more than 500 travel influencers from Venture Republic.
In July this year LINE Corporation acquired a 34% equity in Venture Republic to ease its entry into travel as part of its plan to develop the LINE Commerce gateway.
