Withlocals

Withlocals is an experiential travel company that connects travellers to local hosts who offer private, personalised tours.[1][2][3] Describing itself as trying to achieve "mass personalisation"[4][5] rather than offering group or package tours,[6] Withlocals is cited as an example of the role and impact of the sharing economy on tourism[7] – particularly culinary tourism[8][9] – and the consumer trends for "authenticity" and "experiences".[10][11][12][13]

Withlocals
Dutch limited liability company (B.V.)
Industrysharing economy, tour guide
Founded2013
HeadquartersEindhoven, Netherlands
Key people
Matthijs Keij (CEO)
Marijn & Willem Maas (Co-founders)
ProductsPrivate tours, local travel experiences
Websitewithlocals.com

History

Founded in 2013 by brothers Marijn and Willem Maas in Eindhoven, the Netherlands,[14][15] the company was supported by startup accelerator Greenhouse group. it obtained $500,000 seed funding from Digital Equity group[16] and a grant from the Horizon 2020 program.[17][18] It began operations by specifically targeting a market for sharing home cooked dinners across seven countries in Southeast Asia.[19][20] It later received Series A funding of €3.5 million ($4.3M) in 2017, at which time it reported to offer 1,200 tour options with 900 local hosts in 24 cities – having changed focus to personalised tour guides.[21] In 2019 it secured Series B funding of a further €8 million at which time it was active in 30 cities.[22][23] Both rounds were supported by Dutch investment company INKEF Capital[24] and the latter by Keen Venture Partners.[25] A priority of the latest round of investment is to improve the Software localisation and range of tours offered in languages other than English.[26] As of mid-2019, Withlocals has more than 50 employees.[27]

Cities
  • Images from various Withlocals tours
  • Lisbon
  • Kyoto
  • Bali
  • Athens
  • Denpasar

As of mid-2019 the Withlocals platform has hosts offering tours in the following cities:[28]

Africa

Asia

Australia

Europe

North America

South America

References
  1. "Withlocals lets you travel like a local in Kuala Lumpur, with personalised tours". Australian Financial Review. 2017-11-22. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  2. Coldwell, Will (2016-10-17). "Regional know-how: the best websites for contacting local guides". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  3. "Withlocals to become the global leader in personalized travel experiences". Travel Massive Blog. 2019-04-04. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  4. "Bye-bye mass tourism, hello healing touch". www.eyefortravel.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  5. "Serie-ondernemer Marijn Maas scoort 3,5 miljoen voor Withlocals, om in te spelen op het einde van massatoerisme". Sprout (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  6. "Withlocals' data-driven approach to private tours impresses investors | PhocusWire". www.phocuswire.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  7. Agapito, Dora; Alemida, Hugo de; Campos, Cláudia (2016). "Sensory perception and co-creation in rural tourism experiences". In Kastenholz, Elizabeth; Carneiro, Maria João; Eusébio, Celeste; Figueiredo, Elisabete (eds.). Meeting Challenges for Rural Tourism through Co-Creation of Sustainable Tourist Experiences. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 51. ISBN 978-1443898317. OCLC 957317911.
  8. Gökdeniz, Ayhan; Erdem, Barış; Dinç, Yakup; Uğuz, Sabriye Çelik (January 2015). "Gastronomi Turizmi: Ayvalık'ta Yerli Turistler Üzerinde Görgül Bir Araştırma" [Gastronomy Tourism: An Empirical Study on Domestic Tourists in Ayvalık]. Journal of Tourism and Gastronomy Studies (in Turkish). 3 (1).
  9. Vallbona, Montserrat Crespi; Pérez, Marta Domínguez (2016). "Los mercados de abastos y las ciudades turisticas" [Food markets and tourist cities]. PASOS. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Heritage (in Spanish) (2 ed.). 14: 403. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  10. Carter, Jamie (2018-08-01). "Three apps and websites that offer travellers a local experience, and make sure money you spend benefits people on the ground". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  11. Mody, Makarand; Koslowsky, Kyle (2019-03-20). "Panacea or peril? The implications of Neolocalism as a more intrusive form of tourism". Boston Hospitality Review. 7 (1). ISSN 2326-0351. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  12. Kovacheva, Alexandra; Lamberton, Cait (2018). "Whose Experience Is It, Anyway?Psychological Ownership and Enjoyment of Shared Experiences". In Joann, Joann; Shu, Suzanne (eds.). Psychological ownership and consumer behavior. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. p. 197. ISBN 9783319771588. OCLC 1034551562.
  13. Maurer, Oswin (2018). "Tourism and food: Necessity or experience?". In Beeton, Sue; Morrison, Alison (eds.). The study of food, tourism, hospitality and events: 21st-century approaches. Singapore: Springer. p. 30. ISBN 9789811306389. OCLC 1040694357.
  14. "Reisplatform Withlocals uit Eindhoven haalt 8 miljoen euro groeikapitaal op". ed.nl. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  15. Verstegen, Gert-Jan (2017-10-11). "Eindhovense startup Withlocals haalt 3,5 miljoen euro op" [Eindhoven startup Withlocals raises 3.5 million euros] (in Dutch). RTL Nieuws. Archived from the original on 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  16. "With $500K in Seed funding secured, Withlocals wants to localize the travel experience in Asia". StartUp Beat. 2013-09-23. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  17. "Withlocals". Crunchbase. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  18. "Withlocals connects travelers with locals through food and shared experiences". EASME - European Commission. 2017-01-09. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  19. "Withlocals Co-founder Marijn Maas Aims for 10,000 New Home Dining Spots Across Asia". Siam Startup. 2014-05-16. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  20. M, Valentina (2016-01-13). "Viaggi autentici con le esperienze WITHLOCALS". Viaggiare Libera Turismo Sostenibile (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  21. "Travel experiences marketplace Withlocals picks up $4.2M in Series A funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  22. "Withlocals walks away with €8M to support peer-to-peer experiences service". PhocusWire. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  23. "Withlocals haalt €8 miljoen aan groeigeld op". Innovation Origins (in Dutch). 2019-03-05. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  24. "Withlocals". Inkef capital. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  25. "Withlocals". Keen. Archived from the original on 2019-10-16. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  26. "Withlocals, a Dutch travel scaleup raises €8M to expand into more cities". Silicon Canals. 2019-03-06. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  27. Taylor, Chloe (2019-09-04). "These are the top 10 start-ups to work for in the Netherlands, according to LinkedIn". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  28. "All cities". www.withlocals.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
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