1、February 2023Travel startups:Disruption from withinor not?In many industries over the past 20 years,startups have played an essential role in spearheading innovation that benefits both consumers and industry participants.The same is true for the travel industry.For instance,the rise of booking platf

2、orms has increased transparency and convenience for travelers,and new software platforms have helped incumbents and independent providers to serve their customers better.Historically,travel startups have been underfunded when compared to startups in other sectors.Looking back over the past 15 years,

3、the travel and tourism industry received around one percent of funding for startups across all industries.This relatively low level of investment stands out in contrast to the industrys size:Travel and tourism contributed to over 10 percent of global GDP in 2019.These factors suggest that its a toug

4、h industry in which to raise money.Despite these funding challenges,and unprecedented industry uncertainties,over$27 billion worth of investments were poured into travel companies from 2020 to 2022.In fact,in 2021,investment set a new record of just under$11 billionindicating that investor appetite

5、has not only returned to pre-COVID-19 levels,but even surpassed it.Many success stories exist of travel startups that attracted considerable investment throughout the pandemic,and emerged stronger from the crisis.This was likely due to the way these businesses catered to shifting traveler preference

6、ssuch as the demand for short-term rentals and new experiencesand that the market consolidated as larger incumbents acquired startups with unique value propositions and growth potential.Although the South Korean startup Yanolja is not known to many travelers outside of Asia,its pandemic funding of$1