[Photo: Yeogi Eottae Company]
Yeogi Eottae Company has acquired Japanese travel booking platform Relux. Yeogi Eottae Company said on May 18 it signed a contract to buy all shares of Loco-Partners, a unit of Japanese telecommunications company KDDI. Loco-Partners operates Relux, a high-end travel booking platform in Japan. Relux is strong in premium hotels, resorts and ryokan and is considered a leading Japanese OTA, with about 3.8 million members.
With the acquisition, Yeogi Eottae Company will have a three-platform structure spanning its own Yeogi Eottae platform, its subsidiary Yeogi Eottae Tour (service brand Online Tour) and Relux. In Korea, it runs both independent travel and package tours, and in Japan it has secured a foothold in the high-end accommodation market. Each platform will share know-how in product planning and operations, marketing strategy and technology development.
The company also plans to link products across platforms. Yeogi Eottae Company plans to connect Korean travel products to Relux and supply Relux high-end Japanese accommodation products to Yeogi Eottae. It aims to target both inbound travel by Japanese visitors to Korea and demand by Koreans travelling to Japan. It also plans to target the market for travellers from third countries visiting East Asia.
Myung-hoon Jung (정명훈), Yeogi Eottae Company’s chief executive, said the acquisition of a Japanese travel platform created a foundation for a direct entry into inbound and global markets. He said the M&A was a first step in confidently taking on a new market based on overwhelming capabilities.
AloJapan.com