Hanatour Makes Strategic Investment in WAUG... Full-Scale Entry into the FIT Market

Hanatour announced on March 9 that it is making a strategic investment (SI) in the global travel activity platform WAUG, marking a full-scale entry into the global Free Independent Traveler (FIT) market. Hanatour plans to gradually increase its stake in WAUG up to a maximum of 15% through phased share acquisitions.

WAUG is a global booking platform that sells more than 30,000 travel activity products across 230 cities worldwide. It provides services to global travelers based on multilingual support and a local currency payment system.

Through this investment, Hanatour aims to enhance its competitiveness in the FIT business by combining its own airline and hotel inventory with WAUG’s activity platform. By integrating airline and hotel products with the WAUG platform, Hanatour will broaden its sales channels and increase cross-selling opportunities throughout the entire travel process.

Provided by Hanatour

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The cooperation between the two companies goes beyond a simple equity investment and aims to expand their influence in the global FIT market. Hanatour plans to secure new demand by leveraging WAUG’s mobile-based platform and young user base, while strengthening its FIT business by combining Hanatour’s global network and product planning capabilities.

They will also advance AI-based demand analysis and recommendation services to expand personalized travel offerings. Leveraging WAUG’s multilingual service and local currency payment infrastructure, the companies plan to increase sales to overseas customers as well.

They are also accelerating efforts to target the inbound (visiting Korea) tourism market. Hanatour, in collaboration with WAUG, plans to launch an inbound-exclusive platform called ‘Hop&Hop’ together with its domestic travel subsidiary Webtour. In addition, by combining the product planning capabilities of its inbound-specialized subsidiary Hanatour ITC, Hanatour aims to enhance the competitiveness of products for foreign tourists.

The two companies will also expand joint marketing activities. Starting March 9, they will hold a week-long promotional event titled “Adding Experiences to Free Travel,” offering up to 50% discounts on travel activity products such as Fukuoka Tower observatory tickets, Da Nang The Spa vouchers, and Hong Kong Big Bus city tour passes.

A Hanatour representative stated, “This strategic investment is not just about equity participation; it serves as a springboard for elevating our competitiveness in the global FIT market. By combining the core strengths of both companies, we will provide a differentiated customer experience and further strengthen our leadership in the global integrated travel market.”

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