The entrepreneurs confirm monthly invoicing has grown by 50% and the number of “walkers” by 28% each month, making it more than 70,000 tourists using their platform.
VALENCIA – 12 months ago, with around 10,000 monthly users and with 0$ capital, Juan Castillo CEO of GuruWalk announced his plan to investors to be grossing $20,000 monthly by August of this year. This week, the startup posted on social media that they had not only met their goal but had greatly outdone themselves by increasing their turnover by 700%.
Over the last 6 months, GuruWalk has increased not only its monthly earnings by 50% but also the number of “walkers,” who use the platform, by an average of 28% each month. Currently, the Valencian company consists of a community of about 70,000 tourists and a monthly earning report of $34,900 which greatly surpasses their original projections by 175% and also sets them as market references in the travel industry.
This business sector has witnessed significant changes over the last decade. Trekksoft released a report earlier in 2019 examining industry standards and revealed that the majority, 67% would rather enjoy a quality experience during their trip instead of upgrading to a more expensive hotel room. The data shows a global trend that is moving towards online tourism, with quality and authenticity being the focus. GuruWalk has been able to stand out from the competition with its simple philosophy: create a free platform where individuals from all across the world can exchange cultures and share genuine experiences.
For company CEO, Castillo, “the success of free tours is obvious; people want to understand and to discover the most important features of the cities they visit, but they don’t want to technically do it with a traditional tour because they’re afraid it might be boring or too dense. With GuruWalk, since the only payment you need to make is a tip at the end of the tour, the guides work their hardest so that the tour is entertaining and worthwhile. When someone tries our service, they come back and they also tell a few friends. This is a key part of our secret of having multiplied our turnover so fast.”
At the beginning of summer, when we saw the analytics metrics, what is referred to as the “hockey stick” charts, because of the exponential growth, the small startup comprised of 12 entrepreneurs knew that they were going to be successful in the market and not just in Spain. GuruWalk has already established tours in 88 countries across the world. Another benchmark of their growth is the number of new “gurus” who have joined the platform to give tours, growing from about 1000 to almost 2000.
This trajectory assures them a promising future, but GuruWalk has every intention of leading the market and at the same time to grow and adapt with it especially because the free tour market is still very young. They firmly believe that in 6-9 years they can surpass 50,000 gurus working solely as guides and to gross $500 million a year and still have the opportunity to continue offering quality experiences for their community and all the new members who want to enrich themselves culturally by sharing quality experiences together.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
