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• ‘To connect the global with the local’• ‘Distribute the engagement and profits of tourism’• ‘Elevate the travel experience’However, the company has reached a point in their growth where their ambitions toscale are affected by a number of previously identified factors. In order to gain a betterunderstanding of the company’s perception of itself and its vision for the future,I conducted interviews with the CEOs, synthesised below.5.2 THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE FOUNDERSTakeMeTour has enjoyed exponential growth since its inception, this year alone carryingten times more people than the previous year. This has been attributed to strong dataledimprovements to the platform, and a deep focus on SEO and online advertising.They operate in promising territory as their value proposition aligns with the Thaigovernment’s strategy of ‘distribution of tourism’, placing an emphasis on helpingsecond tier cities to develop outside of traditional tourism destinations in Thailand(interview N Anukunwithaya).However, the regulatory environment surrounding these experiences remainsambiguous and although the company is trying to work with the government to changethe licensing structure for guides, progress remains slow. Further obstacles arise moregenerally when trying to bring new tourism products to new destinations in Thailand asit requires costly research that once developed is easily copiable as no regulation existsto protect Intellectual Property. This in turn leads to agencies being reluctant to createnew tourism products or services (interview N Anukunwithaya).To address this would require better education and governance in Thailand andco-operation by the authorities to change regulation by traditional law, which officialsare reluctant to consider out of systemic protectionism. However, citing a speech byJoe Gebbia, one of the founders of AirBnB, TakeMeTour subscribe to the belief thatthe Sharing Economy is irreversible, therefore meaning that regulatory authoritieswill eventually adapt (interview N Anukunwithaya).TakeMeTour believe part of the reason for slower progress in less developed countries,such as Thailand, is that people are less adaptive generally and when it comes to changethey look for acceptance through following the crowd. Further, Thai culture is generallyreserved and shy, which indirectly affects how much traction a new product or idea cangain through early adoption reluctance (interview with T Amornched).5.3 THE FUTURE FOR TAKEMETOURThere is a perception that fragmentation of the market currently allows local playersto be strong, but brings with it a challenge of scaleability. Even with unlimited money,it would still be difficult to expand out of Thailand because of differences in languageand cultures. Therefore, TakeMeTour identify partnerships as a potential way forward(interview T Amornched).In relation to the future of tourism and where the company’s innovation capabilitieswill come from, successful use of data is seen to be key. However, they also acknowledgethat this is often problematic for smaller travel companies who do not have access tothe data Google or Amadeus collect (interview T Amornched).40With regard to the advance of nascent experience technologies that could potentiallycompete with their core offering, TakeMeTour’s interpretation is it is not clear how VRis going to affect the travel industry, if it can be monetised or whether travellers willeven want to use it (interview N Anukunwithaya). Therefore, the emphasis appears to
be on focussing attention and resources firmly on their market segmentation of reallife ‘experiences’. Consequently, the main growth emphasis for the company remainsfunding to expand the company’s reach. However, in order to achieve that funding,the market requires education and awareness that this new facility exists(interview T Amornched).5.4 COMPETITIONThe Activities market in which TakeMeTour operates is perceived as being historicallycharacterised by a reluctance to try new things, although this may be changing,particularly in developed countries. Fortunately, in this regard they believe they havebeen positively affected by AirBnB’s new ‘Trips’ offering, as it is perceived that AirBnB’sbrand influence can do some of the market education for them. In much the same wayas the collective tourism mentality has normalised going to a new city and searchingAirBnB for accommodation with a local, the ambition is now to educate the market toarrive in a new city and browse experiences with locals too. Therefore, the competitionspace with AirBnB is so far believed to be a beneficial one as their brand presence canelevate the market TakeMeTour plays in (interview T Amornched).5.5 MY INSIGHTSTakeMeTour has enjoyed success through the creation of new value within Thai tourism.However, this may now be challenged through the emergence of alternative, establishedplayers with similar offerings in the Thai market. Whilst TakeMeTour may not currentlybe concerned about the direct threat of AirBnB, they are positioned in a competitivetourism segment where 30 percent of Activities companies globally generate less than$50,000 a year in revenue (Ting 2017). The arrival of AirBnB ‘Trips’ in Thailand is likelymore significant for TakeMeTour than they perceive as they will have to compete with acompany that has established trust in a marketplace where intellectual property is easilyreplicated and who have the ability to directly up-sell to their activites offerings to their‘Homes’ audience.Fig. 10: Vertical Progress, Thiel, 201441
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