“The growth of our business has been phenomenal. We started this business to encourage people to travel more and enjoy their life, and it’s really happening,” said Valadoo’s CEO and co-founder, Jaka Wiradisuria.

Valadoo has also attracted international interest and investment. Travel meta search engine, Wego,  made a strategic investment in the company in May.

Valadoo says its main strength lies in the insider access to a great selection of Indonesia’s popular destinations, which comprise almost 75% of its portfolio. They include popular holiday spots such as Bali and Lombok, and trending destinations such as KarimunJawa, Pulau Derawan and Raja Ampat. It also offers popular international destinations such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, China, Europe and US and many others, are also available.

To promote Indonesian destinations it cooperated with MalesBanget.com to make a video in the form of a web-series (see video below).

The company is also capitalising on the dynamic growth in Indonesia’s domestic travel scene, which is predicted to grow at a rate of more than 7% this year. This exceeds GDP growth of around 6.1%.

A survey conducted by Valadoo last year on people’s travel habits revealed that Indonesians were becoming more receptive to making online purchases when it came to travel plans, particularly after conducting online research.

“We know that more and more Indonesians are starting to shop online, though the preferred method of payment is still offline, with bank transfers more popular than credit card purchases,” Jaka said.

Valadoo’s core objective is to make their customers happy, he added. “Continuous improvements in customer service and developing a more intuitive website are just some of the changes we’ve made to create a better experience.”

The company’s blog, Jelajah, is popular, with 265% increase in traffic during the first half of the year. It provides travel tips and special insights about specific destinations across nearly all of the country’s provinces and abroad.