Foreign Tourists Also Use Smartphones... Seoul City Supports Development of 'Taxi Call Service'

Seoul City and Seoul Tourism Foundation Support Service Development for Saessak Companies
Solving Through Collaboration Projects Between Existing Tourism Industry and Saessak Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Foundation announced on the 30th that they have supported the development of a mobile taxi-hailing service for foreign tourists by tourism startup companies.

Earlier this year, at a meeting with tourism industry practitioners, the Seoul Metropolitan Government recognized that domestic taxi-hailing services are very limited for foreign tourists and has been seeking solutions. Current taxi-hailing services require identity verification through domestic mobile carriers and payment methods centered on domestic cards and bank accounts, making it difficult for foreign tourists staying in Seoul for a short period to use taxi-hailing services.

The service development was promoted under Seoul's win-win cooperation project by tourism startup companies selected in the Seoul Tourism Startup Contest: Like a Local (selected in 2022), Globaleur (selected in 2020), taxi company i.M (i.M), and T-money Onda. Like a Local, a startup providing travel information for foreign tourists, collaborates with i.M Taxi, a premium large taxi-hailing platform.

Globaleur, a startup providing AI-based real-time travel itinerary recommendation B2B technology, collaborates with T-money Onda Taxi, a taxi brand operated by T-money. The two companies agreed to cooperate in the second half of this year and are currently developing the technology. The service will be officially launched next year.

Once the foreigner taxi-hailing service developed with support from the Seoul Metropolitan Government is officially launched, it is expected to create synergy with the resumption of the inbound tourism market in 2023 and contribute to revitalizing the tourism market. Choi Kyung-joo, Director of the Tourism and Sports Bureau of Seoul, said, “In a situation where domestic taxi-hailing services are not easy for foreign tourists to use, cooperation between tourism startups and domestic small and medium-sized businesses to overcome the limitations of existing industries is a great opportunity to expand the market for both sides.” He added, “Seoul will continue to actively support win-win cooperation projects between startups and existing tourism sectors to help the inbound tourism market rebound after COVID-19.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.