The inspiration for Klook, one of Asia’s largest travel platforms, came after Ethan Lin took a trip to Nepal with his friend Eric Gnock Fah. The two were both analysts in Hong Kong’s investment scene: Fah covered consumer retail, while Lin covered the hospitality and real estate sectors.
Both were also third culture children. Fah grew up in Mauritius, the small Indian Ocean nation whose economy depends almost entirely on tourism. In contrast, Lin lived in several cities as a child before attending college in the United States. He combines his love of travel with his background: “I experienced local culture, understood how the world brings different markets together, and traveled extensively with my parents.”
In his opinion, Lin’s trip to Nepal was a bit of a disaster. “We discovered that payment, language, content, infrastructure and discoverability were non-existent,” he says Assets. “It took us so long to figure out what we could do – canyoning, whitewater rafting and paragliding – and the planning was very laborious.”
Then a close call forced Lin and Fah to quit their jobs. As they were about to fly back to Kathmandu from Pokhara, they learned that the flight had taken off an hour before they crashed. Lin later wrote on Linkedin that the incident “prompted Eric and I to quit investment banking… and get to work.”
They then hired Bernie Xiong, a Chinese software developer, as Klook’s chief technology officer and third co-founder. The company released its first mobile app in mid-2015. Klook grew quickly across Asia thanks to a demographic Lin calls “FITs”: foreign independent travelers who plan their own itineraries rather than booking a fixed-route group trip. Klook achieved unicorn status in 2018.
Now Klook is looking beyond Asia. Currently, 80 percent of the platform’s customers are based in Asia Pacific. But according to Ethan Lin, co-founder and CEO of Klook, Western travelers make up a growing share of users. Klook’s gross transaction volume from users outside of Asia has increased 13.4% over the past three years.
“The US is actually one of our largest markets, particularly as American interest grows in APAC destinations where we have a strong supply base,” says Lin. “For example, for our users on the West Coast of the US, Asia is their top destination for international travel.”
Kschau filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange last Novemberhoping to raise between $300 million and $500 million. A month later, Klook announced it would delay its IPO until “early 2026,” citing weak debuts from competitors such as Navan, an AI-powered business travel and expense management platform.
The platform has not yet announced any updated listing plans. Both Lin and Klook declined to comment on the potential listing.
Klook lost $141.5 million on revenue of $407.4 million in the first nine months of 2025, according to a November filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Klook still holds less than 1% of the global experiences market and faces stiff competition from larger players like Viator, GetYourGuide and others booking.com.
The target group is young travelers
Over eighty percent of Millennials and Generation Z – Klook’s target audience – say they prioritize unique, authentic experiences over popular tourist attractions The 2026 American Express Global Travel Trends Report.
“Baby boomers are the ones who are retiring with a lot of money and are paying $100 to $200 for private tours,” says Lin. “Millennials and Generation Z prefer better value options, such as day activities and group tours.”
Although older consumer travel is a growing market, Lin says Klook’s focus remains on Generation Z and Millennials. “If we can only do one thing well, I want to make sure that Millennials and Generation Z are well covered,” he says. “Once they see that our offerings offer good value for money and good service, they will continue to grow with us.”
Through his Travel Pulse surveyKlook noted that most tourists, especially the young ones, rely heavily on social media when planning their trips. “You do a paragliding flight once and then you recommend it to a friend,” he says. Nearly 60 percent of travelers now use social media to discover lesser-visited or lesser-known destinations, with 79 percent of Millennial and Gen Z respondents citing visual-first platforms like TikTok and Instagram as their top source of travel inspiration.
“Nowadays, most people travel not because they want to stay in a hotel, but because they want to do certain activities in one place,” explains Lin. “Maybe they want to do a Hyrox in Seoul, see a Taylor Swift concert in Singapore, or take a road trip and visit the aquarium in Okinawa.”
Klook has joined this trend and launched a creator program in 2023. Since then, it has spawned over 30,000 Creators in 88 markets. In 2024 it launched the “Creator verses‘, a travel summit for content creators. “We bring creatives together in a single place to create content, meet diverse partners and have fun together,” says Lin. “It also helps us strengthen our brand.”
Changing travel trends
Asians travel more. According to a Visa 2025 reportThe number of outbound travelers from APAC increased by 32% from 2023 to 2024. The trend continued into 2025, with outbound travel from the region increasing by a further 25% year-on-year in the first quarter.
“If you look at Asia ten years ago, most people were focused on luxury products like Gucci bags and supercars,” says Dimitrios Buhalis, a tourism professor at England’s Bournemouth University Assets. “But after the COVID pandemic, many people have realized that travel offers them a different perspective on life while improving their quality of life.”
Populous countries like India and mainland China – both home to a growing middle class – are increasingly sources of foreign travelers. “Indian families used to save money for the future generation,” quips Buhalis. “Their children are becoming less interested in saving money and more interested in experiencing life, so they travel instead.”
Asian travelers also travel to more distant destinations. “APAC is a growing driver for US and European destinations,” says Lin, adding that more Western tourists are also traveling to Asian destinations.
In Asia, tourism is growing beyond the usual hubs in countries like Japan, where more travelers are flying to Hiroshima (30% growth year-on-year), Towada (+34% growth) and Omachi (+34% growth), according to Klook data. In South Korea, travelers are also venturing beyond Seoul: bookings for Jeju and Busan on Klook’s platform increased by over 50% in the first half of 2026.
China has also developed into an exporter of cultural and tourism products. “China has been importing expertise for a long time – they were interested in bringing in established hotel brands like… Marriott and Intercontinental,” explains Buhalis. “But now they are developing their own local brands and are gradually starting to expand and export them.”
AI and technology
Klook is trying to use AI to improve the user experience for both travelers and merchants. An AI shopping agent for consumers and a co-pilot for retailers are currently being built. Both AI tools are expected to go live in the third quarter of this year.
Other travel booking platforms are dealing with concerns that users could use AI to bypass their services entirely and use AI agents to book flights and hotels, create itineraries and read reviews. Both Tripadvisor and Booking Holdings shares have fallen over 20% in the past year.
Still, Lin believes AI can improve Klook’s core business offering. “AI will increase our productivity so we can have more free time,” he concludes. “Experiences will continue to be at the core of human life – we are the ones experiencing the world, and that is not something AI can ever replace.”
When asked how he sees the business evolving in the next decade, Lin declines to give a clear answer. “I didn’t think too much ahead. I get lost in the execution,” he says. “Right now it’s day one. We’re back to day one.”
In Fortune’s twice-monthly Asia Agenda column, we speak to Asia’s top business leaders about how they are preparing for the future and what lessons they have learned from leading companies in one of the world’s fastest-growing and most dynamic regions. Discover everything Our profiles here.