MyRealTrip, a South Korean online travel company, said on September 11, 2026 that its board had approved the purchase of all shares in Creatrip, a platform that helps foreign tourists find and book things to do in Korea. Creatrip is expected to become a MyRealTrip subsidiary before the end of the year, once the remaining procedures are completed.
The acquisition will be carried out as a share swap, according to Money Today Network. Neither company disclosed the value of the deal or the exchange ratio.
Both services will keep running as they do now while the deal goes through, and the companies said Creatrip's brand and service would continue to operate independently after it joins MyRealTrip.
What Creatrip built
Creatrip was founded in 2016 and focuses on inbound travel, meaning trips to Korea by foreign visitors. It publishes travel content about Korea and works with local businesses so that users can book what they read about.
When MyRealTrip first invested in 2024, Byline Network described the range of bookings on the platform: popular restaurants, K-pop dance classes, studio photo shoots, craft workshops, beauty and medical services, concerts and attraction tours, as well as hotel and guesthouse stays. Creatrip also offered information on Korean language schools and studying in Korea, and financial services such as currency exchange, payments and insurance for visitors. The service was available in multiple languages including English, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian and Spanish.
The platform has grown since then. In July 2024 it had about 1.5 million monthly users from 230 countries, according to Byline Network. By April 2026 that figure had reached 1.7 million monthly users, and Creatrip said it ranked first by usage among such services in Taiwan and second in the United States and Japan.
Why MyRealTrip is buying
MyRealTrip, run by chief executive Lee Dong-gun, is described by Korean media as a leading travel super-app. Its business has centred on outbound trips, where Koreans travel abroad, and on domestic travel within Korea. It had little presence in the third direction: foreigners coming to Korea.
Buying Creatrip fills that gap. Lee said MyRealTrip's aim had been to connect the whole travel experience, and that with this acquisition it would cover outbound, domestic and inbound travel and grow into a platform spanning the full journey of both Korean and international travellers.
Creatrip chief executive Im Hye-min called the sale a strategic choice to grow further on the inbound expertise the company had built up over ten years. She said Creatrip would keep strengthening its own brand identity and competitiveness as part of the larger group.
From investor to owner
The deal follows an earlier tie-up. In August 2024 MyRealTrip made a strategic investment of 3 billion won (about $2.2 million) in Creatrip. At the time, Lee said the investment would combine Creatrip's know-how in inbound travel with MyRealTrip's experience in global travel services, and that the two would expand products around K-beauty and medical tourism.
Byline Network reported then that MyRealTrip had been investing in and acquiring travel startups to move into categories such as workations, family travel and K-content travel. The Creatrip purchase extends that approach from minority stakes to full ownership.
The reports did not give Creatrip's total funding, revenue or headcount, or say whether it had other outside investors.
What the deal adds
Much of Creatrip's catalogue is built around Korean pop culture and beauty: K-pop dance classes, concerts, studio photo shoots, and beauty and medical services, alongside restaurant and attraction bookings. These are the same areas, K-beauty and medical travel, that Lee named in 2024 as the focus for the two companies' joint products.
By owning a platform already used by visitors from Taiwan, Japan and the United States, MyRealTrip gains an existing customer base in inbound travel rather than having to build one itself. Because the deal is structured as a share swap, Creatrip's shareholders will receive MyRealTrip shares rather than cash, according to the reported terms. The companies have not said when the subsidiary incorporation will be completed beyond aiming for the end of 2026.
