In the news: New partners for Klook Travel, Ticketbis launches in the U.S.,more countries for TripAdvisor Instant Booking
Klook partners WeChat & AirAsia BIG, offers more ways to book activities
New partners for Klook.
Klook Travel (“Klook”), Asia’s leading platform for booking attractions and travel activities, has teamed up with popular mobile messaging app, WeChat, and AirAsia BIG, AirAsia’s loyalty programmes, to bring consumers greater ease when planning trips.
WeChat Pay has officially launched in Hong Kong as its first foray into Asia, and Klook is partnering with it to offer travel activities booking to Hong Kong users. By linking WeChat Wallet to a credit card, they can instantly access and book Klook’s activities with just a few taps.
WeChat has accumulated 650 million monthly active users globally. In addition to being a mobile-focused social platform with upgraded voice and video communication functions, it is also driving eCommerce and O2O service transaction with the adoption of WeChat Pay.
“We are thrilled to bring WeChat Pay to users outside of mainland China, starting with Hong Kong. The response so far has been quite overwhelming and we look forward to launching similar services in other regions with Malaysia next on the list,” said Poshu Yeung, VP of Tencent’s International Business Group.
Klook has also joined forces with AirAsia BIG. The partnership allows AirAsia BIG members to earn BIG Points when they make any purchase on Klook. Additionally, members are able to use their BIG Points to redeem selected Klook activities via AirAsia BIG’s redemption portal.
“With rising demand from consumers for more authentic and engaging travel experiences, we are excited to open up our innovative technology to partners, providing them seamless connectivity to Klook’s curated selection of activities in Asia,” said Eric Gnock Fah, co-founder of Klook Travel, “The move further supports our regional footprint in providing local tours & activities operators greater reach across millions of users.”
With this latest partnership WeChat and AirAsia BIG join Klook’s existing network of partners including Asia Miles, DBS, HSBC, Skyscanner, and Tiger Airways.
Ticketbis promotes global sports tourism to the U.S.
Ticketbis adds events in the U.S. to its platform
International ticketseller, Ticketbis, is expanding its online ticketing platform with the inclusion of events in the U.S. to promote sport tourism to the States starting with Copa America Centenario (2016 Centennial Copa America).
The company, which soft launched in the U.S. at the end of 2014, will host tickets to Copa America Centenario billed as the largest sporting event to hit the U.S. since the 1996 Olympic Games. It will be the first international sporting tournament held in the U.S. to be hosted on its platform.
The international football tournament, which marks the 100th anniversary of Copa America, will take place for the first time in history outside of South America. It will be held in 10 cities throughout the U.S. from June 3-26, 2016. It brought over US$50 million and 70,000 tourists to Chile last year.
In a statement Ticketbis said that by hosting the mega sporting event on its online platform it is “poised to make a splash in the United States by promoting international tourism to the States.”The online secondary ticketing market has been around in the U.S for over a decade. However, in most countries, this type of business model is relatively new and unknown.
“Americans have an increasing interest in learning about different cultures when they travel and are looking for local experiences abroad,” said Ander Michelena, CEO and co-founder of Ticketbis.
“The U.S is listed at the top of our rankings when it comes to sales to international events like Formula 1 in Monaco and games of top European soccer leagues such as La Liga and Premier League. Thanks to the global nature of our platform, Ticketbis users worldwide will now have easy and safe access to Copa America Centenario in the United States.”
This means that over six million users in the 40 countries where it has a presence will have access to Copa America Centenario.
Ticketbis was founded in 2009 and headquartered in Madrid, Spain. To date it has acquired US$25.97 million in funding. The platform is the market leader in secondary ticketing in its home base. It has expanded globally and now has a local presence in Southern Europe, Latin America, and Asia with Norway, Poland, Indonesia and Thailand as among the latest additions.
In Asia, Ticketbis is the largest peer-to-peer ticketing platform, and its launch in the U.S. is now making it easier to support the rise in travel from U.S. to Japan, Korea and vise versa.
Fans from the countries represented can search deals for sports, music, theater and other cultural events and purchase in their local currency.
On average, the Ticketbis content team administers 7,000 events each week, from top tier football matches in Europe and Latin America to concerts of local artists in Japan and Taiwan.
TripAdvisor expands instant booking to nine more countries
Global rollout in the middle of this year.
Travellers now have more choices when booking hotels on TripAdvisor as the travel site has extended its instant booking tool to another nine English-speaking countries, increasing the number to 11.
The additional countries are Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and South Africa. It aims for a global rollout in the first half of 2016.
“We’re excited to help even more travellers around the world conveniently plan and book the perfect trip on our site as we rollout instant booking to more global markets,” said Stephen Kaufer, president and CEO of TripAdvisor.
The tool, first launched in the US and UK, allows users to book through hotel and online travel agency partners without leaving the TripAdvisor site.
TripAdvisor instant booking partners include more than 70 hotel chains, groups and online travel agency (OTA) partners. Among them are Accor, Langham Hospitality, Choice Hotels, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Mandarin Oriental, Marriott International, Hyatt Hotels, Carlson Rezidor, Best Western International, La Quinta Inns & Suites, Priceline Group, and Wyndham Worldwide.
• Featured image credit (backpacker): littlehenrabi/iStock
