Klook’s Aus expansion

TRAVEL activities and services booking platform Klook expects to triple its Au/NZ market share by end 2019, just months after its Australian launch (TD 22 Feb).

The company has seen its search volume increase by 200% since Feb, to 100,000 in Jun.

Monthly users have also jumped from 150,000 in Dec to 450,000 in May.

Klook has reported a tripling in reservations by Aussies to Southeast Asia during winter, with up to 30% of activities booked on the same day or the day before the tour, and 75% made on a mobile device, often in-destination.

Klook COO Eric Gnock Fah said “We need to grow the online travel market as demand in Australia is very high.

“Currently only 15% of bookings in the tours and activities space are made online, yet we see a much higher percentage for hotels and flights,” he explained.

Gnock Fah said the biggest difference between Asia and Australia was technology adoption, with the company “catering for two extremes”.

“For example, the baby boomer generation has a higher disposable income but is traditionally a late adopter of apps and activities, therefore more inclined to book via desktop,” Gnock Fah said.

“Meanwhile, millennials are booking spontaneously on the road, and on-the-go via their mobiles.”

In Apr, Klook raised an additional US$225m through investors, bringing the total the company has raised to US$520m.

Gnock Fah said Klook is “one of the world’s most-funded tour companies”.