Entrepreneur seeks to enrich tourism experience
.jpg?w=728)
Increlabs CEO David Kim
By Kim Bo-eun
David Kim, who spent his childhood in Saudi Arabia where his father worked for an airline company, had an unusually diverse experience of traveling.
“Every weekend, my family would go traveling to countries around the world _ such as Italy, Kenya, Cyprus or Sri Lanka,” Kim, 32, recalled.
Kim traveled to at least 60 countries, but the idea of casual, traveler-created audio guides occurred to him later when he was with his wife in Milan, Italy.
“We were standing in front of the Milan Cathedral, but I realized I was standing there staring into my smartphone for 30 to 40 minutes looking for text guides, unable to appreciate what was in front of me,” Kim said.
“I thought an audio guide would offer the best on-site experience.”
Audio guides already exist, but most come with a fee.
“You would have to pay around 30,000 won for an audio guide that you will never listen to afterward,” Kim said.
This is how Kim got the idea to launch his startup Increlabs.
As the first of his business’ projects, Kim created Sound Journey _ a smartphone application that provides users with audio guides made by travelers.
The app is still in its early stages because he started it in April. It now offers over 300 guides, mostly based in Seoul, with some for Jeju Island.
They range from guides to the traditional culture zone of Insa-dong and a famous Kalguksu (chopped noodles) restaurant in the shopping district of Myeong-dong to a club in the glitzy foreigner enclave of Itaewon.
While one may question the expertise of those who upload guides, this is not so much of a concern for Kim.
“You don’t have to be a certified tour guide to upload a guide,” he said. “I don’t want to place a limit _ I want Sound Journey to be a platform where anyone can upload guides as a traveler.”
He said this also is the case with platforms such as YouTube, as anyone can upload content such as tutorials.
“Any inappropriate content or advertorials can be screened by reports from users.”
Kim said because the places the audio guides introduce are marked on a map, this can also serve as a travel guide for users who are looking to explore the area they are in.
The guides now are offered only in English, but Kim plans to add other languages soon.
“We want to have more languages on the platform by the PyeongChang Olympics in February 2018 _ we want to have it ready for the thousands of visitors who are coming,” he said.