Klook on target to hit 60M bookings in 2019, outlines expansion plan

Tours and activities platform Klook has unveiled an ambitious expansion plan as it marks its fifth anniversary today.

The Hong Kong-based company says it will have more than 60 million annual trip bookings in 2019 and that Klook is the most-searched travel activities company on Google since October 2018.

It currently offers more than 100,000 things to do in more than 350 destinations and counts more than 30 million visitors every month.

By the end of 2020, Klook plans to double its headcount from 1,200 to more than 2,500 across 30 offices; it also plans to continue to penetrate the Asia-Pacific region as well as bolster its presence in Europe.

“Since day one, Klook has envisioned to bring the world closer together by connecting travelers with the best of any destination,” says Ethan Lin, Klook co-founder and CEO.

“When we started the business five years ago, we faced a major roadblock due to the fragmentation of in-destination travel services. We’ve not only overcome the challenge but also transformed the sector in the process through innovative digital solutions, collaboration with local tourism authorities, championing talents who share our vision and empowering operators for a healthier and more diverse local tourism ecosystem.”

In Asia-Pacific, Klook offers localized services in nine languages, supports 41 currencies and multiple payment methods, and it intends on building out customization features based on traveler search and booking behaviors.

In Europe - the home base for rival tours and activities company GetYourGuide, which raised a $484 million Series E round in May - Klook will add languages in French, Italian, Spanish, Russian and German in the coming months to court travelers in the region.

“Asia-Pacific and Europe are both extremely diverse and interconnected. Adopting a hyper-localized go-to-market strategy is the key to Klook’s success in Asian,” says Klook co-founder and COO Eric Gnock Fah.

“As the pioneer of applying cutting-edge mobile-first technology to the in-destination sector, we hope to replicate our strong growth in Asia-Pacific and empower European travelers to discover, book and experience the best things to do anywhere, anytime.”

Klook says it’s also working on improving the technology used by local suppliers by “optimizing its operational procedures from booking and redemption to post-experience reviews” and will equip individual operators with connectivity to artificial intelligence-powered voice assistants such as Actions on Google.

The company is also expanding its engineering team, currently headquartered in Shenzhen, China, to a second hub in Singapore.

Klook has plans for its transit unit - first announced via a partnership with Rail Europe - as well. It says it aims to launch point-to-point train tickets and sought-after passes for the world’s major rail networks, and last week, it added China Rail to the platform.

To date, Klook has raised more than $520 million over four rounds, including a Series D+ round of $225 million in April.