Articles tagged “Klook”

Klook has adapted seemingly well to the pandemic by switching its focus from international inbound travelers to domestic consumers. But along the way, it attracted a new set of commercial rivals. It must stay vigilant.

Google's attractions ticket beta has been among its least elegant in travel to date. This has angered many tour operators because it couldn't have come at a more inopportune time.

Eventually, Google's new Tickets feature may turn out to be one of the most important developments in a long time for the tours and activities sector. Google will certainly move to monetize the feature with paid ads, and it will ultimately expand to tours, and other products, too.

Klook is winning investor confidence during the pandemic. The online agency is tapping into domestic leisure spending in several Asian markets while aspiring to copy some moves from Chinese superapp Meituan by providing more business-to-business services, too.

The pandemic rapidly sped up a trend in livestreams. But the early success of Trip.com Group's and Alibaba Group's Fliggy webcasts marketing travel suggests that the phenomenon is here to stay.

Tripadvisor CEO Steve Kaufer may be underestimating the threat competitors pose to its tours and activities business, a segment the company may see as its largest opportunity. But it's true that Airbnb is only going after a small slice of that market for now, and Amazon's intentions are unclear.

Airbnb has bigger concerns than the scenario of one more big city, Chicago, that is potentially tightening its short-term rental restrictions. But such an action certainly wouldn't help.

Along with its dining reservations business, Tripadvisor's tours and activities unit had been a bright spot. But well-funded competitors such as GetYourGuide and Klook have tightened the race, and Tripadvisor is feeling it.

A new generation of entrepreneurs is creating unique tours for visitors to Singapore. But fighting legacy tour players and online travel giants only makes the high costs of doing business harder to do business.

Asian tourist behavior is changing, reflecting a more mindful — and responsible — traveler overall.