Klook looks to tap into Asia’s travel boom with new funding

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Travel activities startup Klook announced today that it has secured a US$1.5 million seed investment round. The funding comes from angel investor Wu Xiaoguang, who is Tencent’s senior executive vice president and CEO of its ecommerce wing.

Klook, which is based in Hong Kong, focuses on selling travel experiences and packages in Southeast Asian tourist hotspots – and it also covers Seoul in South Korea. It does ticketing for some of the main attractions in each city as well as some more unique and bespoke offerings, like a supercar driving experience on Singapore’s F1 track, or a lesson in making kimchi in Seoul. There are even some riskier excursions for those who feel like going on an adventure.

Tourism boom

Some of the packages come with discounts. And when it comes to the popular attractions, the startup’s online booking allows customers to beat the queues.

The site’s available in English as well as two flavors of Chinese for the Hong Kong and mainland China markets.

While the startup isn’t competing head-on with travel ecommerce giants for things like hotels and flights, it’s still facing a challenge against an array of sites and apps offering travel experiences and adventures for independent travelers. All of those operate in broadly the same way – by curating some of the best things to do from local agencies and providers.

“We have a team of travel curators on the ground, not only scouting for the best deals but also carefully vetting each operator we work with,” says Eric Gnock Fah, the co-founder of Klook. (Update: Added in responses from Fah emailed in just before the article was published.)

Fah says the startup team decided to avoid doing the usual flights and hotels schtick because those are already “very standardized products.” He goes on: “We are seeing customers even skipping platforms and directly booking with each hotel group or airline. We feel that at the end of the day, these flights and hotel booking platforms’ competitiveness is mainly on price – and yet even airlines are doing flash sales.” Instead, the Klook crew sees a chance to make a mark with a curated selection of things to do once at a destination.

“As we build a brand name in this space, consumer stickiness will be stronger as they believe in our vetting and verification process along with our exclusive deals, which they couldn’t have gotten themselves because activities operators are just too small to do any marketing. We believe brand reputation is a lot more relevant for this space, which can become a real barrier to entry,” Fah explains.

China’s tourists get more adventurous

The startup will focus on Asia, serving both the region’s own tourists as well as the travelers who flock to the continent. By 2030, tourists from Asia will lead all regions of the world in total departures and travel expenditures, says a report (PDF link) by the Boston Consulting Group, so the current travel boom still has plenty of momentum.