Doubling down and investing in its fastest-growing region for next chapter of growth.
Sixteen years after it was born from a serendipitous student trip to Beijing, GetYourGuide has come full circle, with the Berlin-based online marketplace for travel activities returning to Asia Pacific with a renewed sense of purpose and a clear investment plan.
Speaking at their Unlocked Asia Summit in Bangkok this week, the two co-founders, Johannes Reck and Tao Tao, reminisced about their roots and early days and shared bold ambitions for the region they say is growing by the largest margin.
“Asia is where it all started,” recalled Tao Tao, chief operating officer – and it will be where the next chapter of growth will be written.
From a lost student to a global platform
The story of GetYourGuide began not in an office or accelerator, but on the streets of Beijing in 2008. Tao recalled how Johannes had arrived a day too early for their university exchange programme in a pre-roaming, pre-Google-Maps world.
“He was completely lost,” Tao laughed. “He really wanted to explore the city but didn’t know where to go. So, when I arrived – Beijing is my hometown – I took him around, showed him my favourite places, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, some local restaurants. I gave him the tour in German. It was hyper-localised luxury, at no cost.”
That experience of one friend guiding another to discover a destination authentically sparked the idea that became GetYourGuide. “We asked ourselves, how can anyone, anywhere, experience a place like that? How can travellers feel like they truly belong and immerse themselves in the destination?” Tao said.
Sixteen years on, the essence of that question still drives the company. “Looking back, you always romanticise the past,” Tao reflected. “I was probably not such a good tour guide. But the inspiration was real – to help travellers everywhere connect with great guides and quality experiences.”
The friendly banter between them on stage, recalling the early days, showed the camaraderie forged over the 16 years it’s taken them to get GetYourGuide from the original tour guide marketplace to the curated travel activities marketplace it is today.
“To be honest,” confessed Tao, “I didn’t think it would take so long.”
Doubling down on Asia Pacific
Now, the company is returning to the region that inspired its creation but this time as a global leader which is finally profitable – on an adjusted EBITDA basis – and has been for the past year, with revenue approaching €1 billion for the last 12 full months. In Q3 2025, it saw a 30% increase in GMV and over 10 million experiences booked.
“As Tao said, APAC is where our founding story began,” added Reck. “And over the past few years, especially since COVID, it’s rebounded like no other. It’s the fastest-growing travel region in the world – more than twice as fast as others.”
GetYourGuide is doubling down on building its team across destinations in Asia, from Japan to Thailand, China, Vietnam and New Zealand – places its customers are fanning out to.
The company has its eye on two goals – bringing Western travellers to Asia and creating outbound demand in Asia markets for destinations in the West.
“For us, Asia Pacific is highly important and very strategic right now,” Reck said. “We believe the best growth is still ahead of us. APAC destinations are consistently at the top of the list for our travellers – the quality of service, the great prices, the sheer richness of what’s on offer.”
And Tao is cognizant that Asia is a long game – an extremely fragmented market with local, worthy competitors – and he knows localisation will be critical to winning.
“We are deeply committed to the region and will localise and invest accordingly,” said Tao, who personally moved from Berlin to New York for a year to spearhead its expansion into the US, proof that these are founders who will do what it takes to win.
Tao Tao (left) and Johannes Reck with Siew Hoon at the opening of the Summit: “Asia is where it all started’ and it will be where the next chapter of growth will be written.
The next chapter: Curation, quality, collaboration
The next phase of GetYourGuide’s journey in Asia will focus not just on scale, but on curation and quality.
To do so, it is investing in supply teams and curation of higher value experiences rather than discount tickets. In doing so, GetYourGuide wants to elevate itself from the cut-throat competitive world of ticketing to unique, quality experiences which naturally fetch a higher margin and are increasingly what they say their customers want.
“Price is the hygiene factor. We want to compete on quality. Value is what differentiates,” said Tao, adding, “Value drives the highest conversions.”
Reck said based on their experience in Europe and the US, uniqueness and quality sell. “For Europeans and Americans coming to Asia, they want quality, and what’s unique about the destination.”
Reck added that GetYourGuide also wants to empower local operators to differentiate their products better on the platform. “We want to give our partners the tools to shine to highlight what’s distinct and special about their experiences. That’s where we need your feedback. How can we do better at showcasing the quality and uniqueness of what you offer?”
For GetYourGuide, this summit in Asia was as much about listening as it was about leading. “We’re here to learn,” Reck said. “We want to collaborate, to build the next generation of great experiences together. Because what we have today, it’s still just the beginning of what’s possible.”
Back to the beginning, forward to the future
From a lost German student in Beijing to a global platform serving millions, GetYourGuide’s story has come full circle – grounded in the same belief that sparked its creation. “How can anyone, in any place, feel like they truly belong?”
Tao acknowledged the humble lesson learnt at the start, when they found it hard to build a global marketplace for tour guides and pivoted to experiences. “It shows that quality guides are the expertise and domain of the local operators we work with, and that human element is hard to scale with tech,” he said.
Yet he said it is the most important thing travellers seek, with almost 90 percent of customer reviews, regardless of markets, citing guide quality as the critical element in an experience.
So that tour guiding element, which began the company’s journey, now guides its next one as it doubles down on Asia Pacific, the region where the dream first took root.
