Shou65: Tourism Platform Helps You Travel Like a Local

More and more Chinese travelers hit the road for backpack tours rather than the old-fashioned escorted tours to experience a more adventurous journey filled with unpredictable possibilities, like opportunities to meet new friends and to experience local lives.

Shou65, a peer-to-peer tourism service platform, is dedicated to connect individual backpack travelers and local travelling guides to dig out these potentials in a journey.

The tourists can post their travelling plans on the platform to search for companions or local guides. After getting connected via the platform, the local guide will recommend low-budget hotels, local culture and cuisine etc. to the backpack travelers upon their arrival at the destinations.

The two parties can bargain to determine the price for the guiding service and the travelling activities. The transaction will be conducted via the platform, which will charge a 10% commission from the deal. In addition, a credit system is established to provide reference for users in selecting either tourists or guides.

The platform has registered 100,000 users as of present since its launch in November 2013. Shou65 is currently run by a team of 11 employees headed by Luo Zhun, a serial entrepreneur who is the founder of e-commerce site Yuanjing, local life community 21home and former executive of new portal HSW.

The company has raised funding from angel investor Tisiwi. It is now seeking for new capital injections for platform construction and overseas market expansion.

image credit: Shou65