Klook’s Global Ambitions: How an Asian Travel Giant is Courting the Western Gen Z Traveler

The genesis of Klook, now one of Asia’s most formidable travel platforms, can be traced back to a trip to Nepal that was as frustrating as it was life-changing. Ethan Lin and Eric Gnock Fah, then high-flying analysts in Hong Kong’s competitive finance sector, found themselves struggling to navigate the local tourism landscape. Lin, who covered hospitality and real estate, and Fah, who specialized in consumer retail, quickly realized that the digital revolution had largely bypassed the world of local activities.

“We noticed that payment, language, content, infrastructure, and discoverability were not there,” Lin told Fortune, recalling the difficulty of booking canyoning, white-water rafting, and paragliding. “It took us so long to find out what we could do… and it was a lot of effort to plan.”

Both founders were “third-culture kids” with global perspectives—Fah grew up in Mauritius, a tourism-dependent nation, while Lin’s childhood spanned multiple cities before he attended college in the U.S. However, it was a brush with mortality that provided the final catalyst. After learning that a flight departing just an hour before theirs from Pokhara to Kathmandu had crashed, the duo decided to leave the security of investment banking behind. As Lin later reflected on LinkedIn, the incident was the push they needed to “get to work.”

Partnering with Bernie Xiong, a Chinese software engineer who became the company’s CTO, they launched Klook’s first mobile app in mid-2015. The platform tapped into a burgeoning demographic Lin calls foreign independent travelers, or “FITs”—younger, tech-savvy tourists who shun rigid group itineraries in favor of bespoke, self-planned adventures. By 2018, Klook had achieved unicorn status, a milestone that signaled the massive potential of the “experiences” sector within the broader travel industry.

Today, Klook is at a critical juncture as it attempts to transition from a regional powerhouse to a global leader. While 80% of its customer base remains in the Asia-Pacific region, the company is seeing a significant uptick in interest from the West. Over the past three years, Klook’s gross transaction volume from users outside of Asia has climbed by 13.4%. Lin notes that the U.S. has become one of Klook’s largest markets, particularly as West Coast travelers increasingly look toward Asian destinations where Klook’s supply chain is most robust.

This expansion comes amid a complex financial backdrop. Klook filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in November 2024, aiming to raise between $300 million and $500 million. However, the company has since pushed the listing to “early 2026,” citing the lackluster market debuts of peers like Navan, an AI-driven corporate travel platform. According to a November filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Klook reported a loss of $141.5 million on $407.4 million of revenue for the first nine months of 2025. Despite its rapid growth, Klook currently holds less than 1% of the global experiences market, facing intense competition from established giants like Booking.com, Viator, and GetYourGuide.

To differentiate itself, Klook is doubling down on the preferences of Millennials and Gen Z. According to American Express’s 2026 global travel trends report, over 80% of these younger travelers prioritize authentic experiences over traditional tourist traps. “Baby boomers are the ones retiring with lots of money, who’ll pay $100 to $200 for private tours,” Lin says. “Millennials and Gen Z favor options which are more value for money, like day activities and group tours.”

This shift is increasingly driven by social media. Klook’s own Travel Pulse survey found that 79% of Millennial and Gen Z respondents use visual-first platforms like TikTok and Instagram as their primary source of inspiration. To capture this traffic, Klook launched a creator program in 2023, which has grown to include over 30,000 ‘Kreators’ across 88 markets. The company even hosted the Kreatorverse, a dedicated summit for content creators to network and generate buzz for specific destinations.

“Nowadays, most people travel not because they want to stay at a hotel, but because of specific activities,” Lin explains, citing examples ranging from Hyrox fitness competitions in Seoul to Taylor Swift concerts in Singapore.

The broader economic landscape in Asia supports this optimistic outlook. A 2025 Visa report noted that outbound travel from the APAC region grew by 32% between 2023 and 2024, with that momentum carrying into 2025. Dimitrios Buhalis, a tourism professor at Bournemouth University, suggests this reflects a fundamental cultural shift. While Asian consumers previously focused on luxury goods like Gucci bags, the post-pandemic era has seen a pivot toward life experiences. This is particularly evident in India and mainland China, where a growing middle class is prioritizing travel over traditional saving habits.

Within the region, travel patterns are also diversifying. Klook data shows a surge in bookings for secondary Japanese cities like Hiroshima and Omachi, while in South Korea, destinations like Jeju and Busan saw bookings jump over 50% in the first half of 2026. China is also evolving from a consumer of international hotel brands into an exporter of its own local tourism concepts.

Looking ahead, Klook is leaning into artificial intelligence to streamline the booking process. The company is developing an AI shopping agent for consumers and a co-pilot tool for merchants, both scheduled for release in the third quarter of this year. While some industry analysts worry that AI could allow users to bypass booking platforms entirely, Lin views the technology as a productivity booster rather than a threat.

“Experiences will continue to be at the core of human life—we’re the ones who experience the world, and that’s not something AI can ever replace,” Lin says. For now, despite the scale of the business, he maintains a startup mentality. “Right now, it’s day one. We’re back to day one.”