Traveloka raises US$250 million with easing of lockdown

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s largest online travel app, has said that it has raised US$250 million for assisting its operations amid the corona virus crisis, and also with domestic travel starting to gain momentum in the region of 650 million people.

Traveloka said that its funding round was led by a “global financial institution” and included existing investors like early backer East Ventures.
Traveloka was battered by the virus outbreak, with Southeast Asian countries closing down borders and imposing strict lockdowns, thereby choking a previously booming tourism industry.

Traveloka had to cut jobs, with one of its affiliates, Indonesian hotel aggregator Airy Rooms, shutting down.

But ever since domestic travel restrictions starting to ease in the region, the Jakarta-based firm’s chief executive said that it “was seeing an encouraging recovery across its key markets” due to surge in travel and activity bookings by local holiday-makers.

“Our business in Vietnam has returned to 100 percent pre-COVID-19 level and Thailand has surpassed 50 percent pre-COVID-level,” said Traveloka Co-founder & CEO Ferry Unardi.

He said that both Indonesia and Malaysia are also seeing “strong week-to-week improvement”.

In June, Thai authorities unveiled a $722 million subsidy to stimulate domestic travel, while both Vietnam and Singapore have announced extensive local tourism promotion campaigns.

Bali plans to re-open for local tourists this week and for international travelers on September 11.

Unardi said that Traveloka will use the new funding to boost its balance sheets and domestic travel offerings along with its financial offerings.

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