After losing their tourism jobs during the pandemic, co-founders M.F. and J.S. looked for a new start. When international travel returned to Japan, J.S. began working occasional shifts as a tour guide. He quickly discovered a passion for guiding, and they launched WooW Travel in September 2024.
In less than two years, WooW Travel has welcomed nearly 20,000 guests, with the team expanding from three people to 12 guides. The company achieved all of this by focusing its growth efforts almost entirely on GetYourGuide.
Today, the company runs walking tours and craft workshops in Kyoto's Gion district, where more than 100 walking tours compete for tourists’ attention. Despite the fierce competition, WooW Travel sold around 7,000 tickets through GetYourGuide in the first six months of 2026 alone.
“We felt a synergy, and we put everything into GetYourGuide. It's where we come from,” M.F. says. GetYourGuide still accounts for 90% of its bookings.
Here, she talks about why WooW Travel committed to a single OTA, how GetYourGuide's data has fueled its rapid growth, and how the team continues to add new products.
What does a WooW Travel tour offer that others can't?
We offer what no search engine or AI can replicate: a guide's own experience of living in Kyoto. Our guides share their own stories and perspectives on life in Kyoto, instead of just reciting historical facts.
For example, Gion's hanamachi, home to Kyoto's geisha, is a world of its own, with customs unfamiliar even to many Kyoto residents. Our guides talk about what the district means to them and how they live it every day.
That's where our name comes from. We want every guest to leave saying, "WooW."
What did growth look like with no marketing budget?
In our first month, we welcomed around 100 guests. Since we had no budget or time to promote ourselves, we leaned entirely on tour quality.
Then, guests started leaving five-star reviews without being asked. Those reviews improved our visibility and brought in more bookings. Within six months, our sales jumped fivefold compared with our first month.
We maintain that quality by thoroughly training every new guide.
In such a competitive market, even a single low rating can affect future bookings. However, when guides receive critical feedback, we don't see it as a reason to let them go. Instead, we review together and help them improve. Investing in our guides ensures we continue to deliver what our guests expect.
Before this year's cherry blossom season, we hired additional guides early, giving them enough time to train. That preparation also lets us increase capacity during peak seasons. At peak times, we run up to 6 tours a day with a maximum of 20 participants.
Why did you decide to work exclusively with GetYourGuide?
We joined GetYourGuide at almost the same time we launched. As a small team, we decided to invest our time and energy in GetYourGuide rather than managing several OTAs.
When I compared different OTAs, GetYourGuide immediately stood out. Its product design felt polished, and its brand matched the kind of company we wanted to build.
Having a Japan-based team gave us reassurance from the beginning. Whenever we had questions, we could communicate in Japanese and receive quick responses.
For nearly two years, GetYourGuide was our only sales channel. As competition intensified, we diversified by listing on other OTAs and adding direct bookings through our website about a month ago.
Even today, GetYourGuide remains our primary channel, generating around 90% of all bookings.
How do you use GetYourGuide's tools and analytics?
I use GetYourGuide analytics every day to compare bookings with the previous year, download booking data, and spot trends. The dashboard is simple and easy to use.
Kyoto's summers are extremely hot, so demand shifts toward evening tours. Our 6 p.m. tour consistently sold the best, so we added 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. departures to capture more demand.
Another tool that has made a real difference is AI-powered messaging.
Most of our guests are from abroad: 25% from the United States, 18% from Australia, and 16% from the United Kingdom. Since English isn't my first language, I still edit the suggested replies, but they help me communicate more professionally and quickly.
How did you develop new experiences?
Before building any workshops, I checked every craft workshop on GetYourGuide to find a gap in the market. I also noticed that Kyoto's temple-heavy sightseeing often left younger children bored during our walking tours.
That inspired me to create two family-friendly, hands-on workshops.
The first is painting The first is painting a daruma doll and a papier-mache figurine. It's simple enough for even kindergarteners to enjoy. No other operator in Kyoto offered anything similar on GetYourGuide at that time.
The second is temari, traditional Japanese hand-stitched thread balls. It draws on my years as a craft instructor before the pandemic and my love of crafting.
What's your biggest challenge today, and what's next?
As the business has scaled up, I spend more time managing the company. My biggest challenge is finding time to lead our workshops. Even so, we're always thinking about what to build next.
Looking ahead, we want to create something new rather than copy what's already on the market.
Demand for hands-on activities continues to rise, so we're exploring collaborations with local businesses and shops that offer guests more than traditional sightseeing.
GetYourGuide has made it possible for a small company like ours to grow. That's why I often recommend it to other operators.
What was the most memorable moment with your guests?
A couple on our Hidden Gems tour told me, “The real hidden gem wasn't a temple or a shrine. It was you.” I’ll never forget those words.
Key Takeaways
- Go deep before going wide. For nearly two years, WooW Travel focused mostly on GetYourGuide. Even today, GetYourGuide drives around 90% of its bookings.
- Let quality drive growth. With no marketing budget, the company focused on tour quality. Guests left reviews on their own, pushing sales up 5x within six months.
- Turn local knowledge into 4.8-star reviews. Instead of simply explaining Kyoto's history, guides share their own perspectives on life in Kyoto. That approach led to a 4.8-star rating across nearly 4,500 reviews.
- Follow the booking data. GetYourGuide analytics revealed that the 6 p.m. tour consistently attracted the highest volume of bookings. Adding 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. slots helped to meet the increased demand.
- Find the gaps before building new experiences. The team reviewed every craft workshop on GetYourGuide before creating new workshops. After finding that no one else in Kyoto offered anything similar, they introduced a daruma doll painting workshop.
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