In just five short years, tours and activities platform Klook has surpassed 30m monthly visitors on its platform, amassed an inventory of over 100,000 things to do in over 350 destinations, and has come out on top as the most-searched travel activities provider globally on Google since last October. But they’re not slowing down just yet.
To mark its fifth anniversary, Klook has outlined its ambitions to expand globally, deepening roots in Asia Pacific, while accelerating its growth in European markets.
“Asia Pacific and Europe are both extremely diverse and inter-connected. Adopting a hyper-localized go-to-market strategy is the key to Klook’s success in Asia,” said COO and co-founder, Eric Gnock Fah.
Klook has outlined a few key strategies to achieve its targets in 2020 and beyond.
In its constant pursuit of innovation, Klook will expand its engineering hub in Shenzhen, China to Singapore, which will give the company access to the region’s tech talents. Through this “dual-hub”, Klook aims to build its understanding of consumer and supplier behaviours through data analytics.
Klook will also continue to empower local travel operators by providing them with the latest technological resources through its own platform. It wants to “elevate in-destination supply” by increasing the efficiency of its operational procedures pre- and post-booking. It is currently also exploring the use of AI-powered voice assistants for individual partners.
Cracking into the rail transport sector, Klook has introduced a standalone Rail interface to launch point-to-point train tickets and travel passes for major rail networks worldwide. Earlier this year, Klook signed a global partnership with Rail Europe, on top of its rail experiences in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Last week, Klook launched China Rail. This connectivity will help digitise and streamline international rail services, simplifying the booking process for travellers.
On top of increasing connectivity, Klook is continuing to ramp up efforts to boost its experiences inventory particularly in Japan, in the run up to the Rugby World Cup and Tokyo Olympics 2020. It has collaborated with local Japanese operators to boost attractions beyond the Tokyo metropolitan area by 600% since 2016, focusing on day tours to nearby cities and towns beyond the capital.
Over the next year, Klook will also more than double its current workforce from 1200 to over 2500 across 30 offices.
