FOLLOWING its Series C+ round close in July, KKday is setting its sights on Vietnam and says it aims to drive over $100 million for Vietnam’s tourism industry by 2023.
The online travel experiences platform said it will focus on working with local merchants to digitise, launch marketing campaigns to capture both inbound and outbound tourism, and expand distribution channels to capitalise on the sharp travel rebound expected in Vietnam across key markets including Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc.
Clearly encouraged by the increase it’s seen in its Vietnam business – during Covid, its business grew 20x – KKday said that its GMV in June 2022 surpassed pre-Covid levels.
“We believe that the tourism recovery in Vietnam will accelerate given pent-up demand, restrictions being lifted, and the increasing digitalisation of travel operators locally. As more travelers are digital-first and traveling for longer periods in this new environment, we are committed to establishing our foothold in Vietnam to support the growth and digital transformation of the tourism industry in Vietnam.
“We believe our hyperlocal approach combined with our focus on innovation and operational excellence will continue to be the key drivers of our business,” said Pinky Lee, managing director of Southeast Asia of KKday.
Pre-pandemic, Vietnam was one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in South-east Asia with tourism contributing to 12% of Vietnam’s GDP and the three-year CAGR was 22% between 2017-2019. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Vietnam’s economy is expected to rebound by 6.5% in 2022.
In terms of traveler demand, KKday forecasts over 20 million trips will be taken both inbound and outbound from Vietnam by the end of 2023; in addition to Vietnam’s tourist numbers to increase by 50% y-o-y by the end of 2022.
KKday plans to triple its current team, hiring for business development for partner acquisition and marketing roles and is also laser focused on supporting digitalisation transformation of the tourism industry, helping local merchants go from offline to online.
“We are committed to working with our local merchants in Vietnam to digitise and expand their customer base locally and also globally. With the travel surge we are expecting and the return of international travelers, we look forward to partnering with these merchants on providing local and highly curated experiences for travelers and building out their distribution channels,” said Annie Nguyen, general manager of KKday Vietnam.
Signed and sealed, the partnership with VinWonders.
KKday noted that only 54% of travel activities and experiences are booked online in Vietnam, and that it has seen an increase in adoption of its B2B solution, rezio.
Since 2022, KKday said it has onboarded over 1,200 local travel operators to its platform in Vietnam. It has also tripled the number of activities and experiences from Vietnam with over 1,400 tours, experiences, and attractions during Covid-19 – and plans to double its experiences and activities offering in the next 12 months.
It recently signed an MOU with SunWorld Holdings, covering its recreation and amusement attractions including Ba Na Hills and several amusement parks. It became the first OTA API partner to distribute tickets in Vietnam and to international partners for VinWonders, Vietnam’s largest recreation brand. FLC Group, a leading airline and resort group in Vietnam, will onboard experiences and activities packages on the KKday platform while KKday will offer special incentives to FLC members. BestPrice will collaborate with KKday to offer unique tours and packages for theme parks and key attractions to domestic and inbound travelers on the KKday platform.
