Traveloka’s recovery from nearly zero bookings during Covid-19

It’s no secret that Traveloka felt the full impact of the Covid-19. But the online travel giant did well to recover from a pandemic-driven slump in the industry. Its previous president, Henry Hendrawan, had said year that the firm was inching closer to breaking even.

Traveloka’s bookings collapsed to almost zero during the onset of lockdown measures last year, said current president, Caesar Indra, during this year’s Tech in Asia Conference.

Photo credit: Traveloka

Indra revealed, however, that to get Traveloka on the road to recovery took the effort of its entire team, which quickly turned its attention toward handling ticketing issues, managing refunds to customers, and automating processes. He said many of its employees at that time volunteered to help out in aspects of the business that were unfamiliar to them.

Besides this, the company also rolled out products that helped give customers and partners more flexibility. For instance, it launched its “buy now, stay later” offering, which gave users the freedom to move around booking dates for flights and stays. Indra said this helped Traveloka’s partners who were facing a financial crunch at the time. Further, to help restaurants it had tie-ups with, the company also began food delivery services.

“Covid-19 challenged us to innovate and evolve,” said Indra.

Traveloka placed bets on its other verticals, including food delivery and fintech.

The startup recently ramped up its efforts to onboard new restaurants for Traveloka Eats after the platform saw strong demand in its food delivery arm “particularly as more people increased adoption of digital services during the pandemic,” Indra had previously said.

It was also recently announced that through its investment in Sirclo, Traveloka was looking to expand its fintech services beyond its own platform, which already includes e-wallet, bills payment, insurance, and buy now, pay later offerings.

Recovery in international travel

“In terms of recovery, the industry actually has started to recover earlier this year. In the short run, we think travel recovery will be supported by domestic travel, as we’ve seen, starting earlier this year, that people miss travel,” he said.

Citing internal data from Traveloka, Indra said that in Indonesia, about 44% of users prefer to travel within their hometowns, while 23% look to travel just outside their cities of residence. In Vietnam, he said roughly 40% of users prefer to stay in hotels and vacation rental properties, while 35% would like to visit tourist attractions.

The startup has launched initiatives to speed up the travel sector’s recovery. These include helping more than 600,000 people in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines book appointments for Covid-19 vaccination since last year.

Looking ahead, Indra stressed that Traveloka has a very optimistic view of international travel’s future.