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Following pandemic setbacks, ToursByLocals has completed a long-awaited rebrand meant to signal growth.
In 2019, ToursByLocals received $33 million from a private equity firm and had plans for a full rebranding of its website. Then came the pandemic.
ToursByLocals connects travelers with, you guessed it, local guides. During the pandemic, the company used some of the funding to focus on keeping their guides above water. Now, five years later, the company finally followed through on its promise to rebrand.
In an interview with Skift, ToursByLocals’ CEO Lisa Chen explained the rebrand and also said that the company is working on integrating AI while keeping the customer experience human.
Chen, who took over last year, gave an inside look at what we can expect next from the company, including more partnerships and new tools for travel agents.
Skift: ToursByLocals underwent a significant branding overhaul in the past two months. Why?
Lisa Chen: It goes back a few years — before my time. Tritium Partners, which is a private equity company based in Austin, Texas, invested money in 2019. It was an incredibly inopportune time, being two months before the pandemic.
The original intent of funding was t