Online booking platform to push Cebu activity-based destinations

CEBU, Philippines — Klook, a Hong Kong-based in-destination services platform, is pushing Cebu’s experiential tourism attractions, to quench the interest of active young travelers around the world.

The online travel services company is going to sell Cebu’s activity-based destinations starting with Oslob whale shark watching, Kawasan Falls Canyoneering, island hopping, and the provision of chartered cars, said Klook market leader for the Philppines Michelle Cruz.

Klook Philippines will also soon introduce curated experiential tours for Cebu capitalizing the province wealth of appealing destinations for adventure and personal experiences.

As the preferred travel assistant for travel savvy millennials, Cruz said the young travelers are looking for unique experiences—“something they can own.”

Klook is also starting to promote the Cebu’s La Vie for filming location tours, she added.

The company has already opened an office in Cebu manned by at least eight people. It has started to partner with local tour agencies to include some tour packages into Klook’s portfolio.

At present, Klook is working with Safari Park in Carmen, the Happy Beach on Mactan Island as online ticketing partner, and other 20 Cebu-based partners.

“We are beefing up our product portfolio in Cebu,” Cruz said.

Last year, Klook registered an 16 million monthly traffic. It largely attract travelers from millennial FITs (free independent travelers) aged 24 years old to 35 years old.

In the Philippines, bookings are dominated by domestic market traveling in different destinations within the country (60 percent), and 40 percent are travelers from other countries.

Last Friday, Klook hosted its first ticketed event at Happy Beach in Mactan dubbed “Sinulog Beach Festival” in partnership with Cebu Pacific, Havaianas, among others.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, Klook sells travel activities across Asia.

Last year, the company announced that it has closed US$200 million in Series D funding, bringing its total financing to US$300 million. This makes Klook the most-funded company in the tours and activities sector globally.

Klook works directly with attraction managers and owners. (FREEMAN)