Indonesian travel unicorn Traveloka officially announced its expansion to Australia today.
Users down under can now access Traveloka through the website or mobile application. Traveloka currently offers five features for Australian customers, flight ticket reservation, accommodation, flight and hotel packages, airport transportation, as well as activities & recreation.
This is the first time Traveloka takes its services outside Southeast Asia.
“Australia is a country that has better infrastructure in terms of connection, payment, and internet adoption so we hope that our presence in Australia can further enrich the lives of users,” said Yady Guitana, Traveloka’s head of global partnerships in an official statement as reported by local media.
This development marked Traveloka’s second foreign expansion this year as the firm opened a new R&D office in Bangalore, India, in late January, but it’s not serving customers there. Besides Australia, Traveloka currently has customers in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.
The company has raised at least US$500 million to grow its business. The lead investor in its latest round was US travel giant Expedia. Traveloka is said to be seeking another US$400 million for its expansion.
Expanding to Australia is part of an effort to support the Indonesian government in its goal to attract 20 million foreign visitors to Indonesia. Traveloka is an official partner of the Indonesian tourism board’s “Wonderful Indonesia” campaign.
Indonesia ranks 2nd after New Zealand in terms of countries most-visited by Australians, according to Statista data for 2018.
Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency recorded 1.3 million Australian tourist arrivals in 2018. The figure is expected to increase by 15% in 2019. It seems like Bali still tops the list for many Australians who visit Indonesia as the island welcomed at least 763.000 Australian travellers in the period from January-August 2018, according to the agency.
Editor: Nadine Freischlad