Trip101, a Singapore-based global “travel enthusiast-generated media” startup, has reported exponential growth in web traffic and revenue, validating content and media as a powerful contributor of growth.
In an end of year report, Trip101 declared five times year on year traffic growth, with a 12x increase in revenue growth. Despite being an Asia-born business, the bulk of Trip101’s traffic stems from the USA (40.5%), followed by Philippines (6.3%), Malaysia (5.6%), UK (5.2%) and Singapore (4.8%).
Based in Singapore and established in 2015, Trip101 is a global network of travel experts and enthusiasts. Trip101 publishes online travel guides for over 150 countries, containing basic destination information, as well as ‘off-the-beaten-track’ suggestions, curated by locals as well as frequent travellers.
Kei Shibata, co-founder & CEO, LINE TRAVEL jp and Trip101, said, “As our user base is widespread all over the world (233 countries), 2019 will be the year for us to build the awareness of our brand in some of the key markets such as US and UK.
“We [will] continue to enhance the size and quality of our publishing operations by strengthening and leveraging the technology and our Trip101 Travel Enthusiasts Network.”
It is this Trip101 Travel Enthusiasts Network that Shibata credits (in part) for the startup’s growth. The company was able to tap into a broad network of over 250 travel bloggers and writers who are willing to explore a destination and share their experiences on the platform. It sustained the platform’s ability to refresh its content consistently.
“Users travel demands are becoming more… niche, especially among young and modern millennial travellers.”
Addressing unique search queries asked by young travellers helped build Trip101 into a helpful resource for young travellers. It also helped the platform consistently churn out original article topics that aren’t likely to surface on competitor sites, differentiating Trip101 from competitors.
Such examples of Trip101’s content include: ‘Treetop Living: 10 Magnificent Airbnb Treehouses Around The World’ and the ‘Top Instagrammable Spots in Asia for 2019’.
However, its content is not entirely driven by this network. Rather, the startup uses a data-centric approach to predict and conceptualise what content themes would be most relevant for its users.
“Our technology team… [analyses] the up-to-date/upcoming demand of travel in every major segment (hotels, private accommodation, things to do etc.) across over 150 countries in the world,” said Shibata. This helped Trip101 “to target users with the right content and to bring conversions and bookings for our partners.”
Trip101 monetises its content through affiliate partnerships from OTAs.
At the moment, Trip101’s technology team is primarily based in Nepal, which Shibata credits as being a budding region for engineering talent.
In the year ahead, Trip101 not only plans to continue building its editorial team, but to automate as many of its internal processes as possible, to accelerate its output of articles.
It also has team members in both Japan and Singapore (its main office) that frequently collaborate. “Two teams (in Tokyo and Singapore) are exchanging ideas and share the knowledge that maximise our performance.”
Trip101 exists as one brand under Venture Republic. The original business idea was taken from LINE TRAVEL jp (formerly Travel.jp, an online travel metasearch/media model. Shibata saidTrip101 adapted this concept but developed a more global strategy, to export the model beyond Japan.
