Indonesian online travel giant tiket.com is setting its sights on Cambodia and Laos, as part of its long-term strategy to strengthen its presence across Southeast Asia, according to Gaery Undarsa, co-founder and chief marketing officer of the company.
While tiket.com already lists hotels and flight options in Cambodia, Gaery said the company’s next focus will be on understanding local markets before moving toward a full-scale entry.
“Hotels are already there. We have a complete list of Cambodian motels, and flights as well,” he explained to Cambodian and Laos journalists, during a visit to his Jakarta office on October 15.
“If we want to go there on a local level, the most important part will be understanding the right go-to-market strategy — how to do marketing there and increase awareness. Marketing to Indonesians is very different from marketing to Cambodians,” he added.
Founded in 2011, tiket.com is one of Indonesia’s biggest online travel platforms, boasting over 50 million users.
“It offers flight bookings from 116 domestic and international airlines, accommodation from 3.6 million properties worldwide, and activities across 77,000 destinations, according to company data,” said Sandra Darmosumarto, public relations manager at tiket.com.
Despite its regional ambitions, Gaery noted that market scale and consumer behaviour remain key challenges for expanding into smaller countries like Cambodia and Laos.
“Even in Indonesia, with a population of 280 million, not everyone books travel online yet,” he explained.
“In countries like Laos and Cambodia, the online transacting population may be only around 40 to 50 per cent. The number becomes very small, so it doesn’t always justify the investment because the starting cost to build a platform is similar regardless of market size,” he added.
He noted that tiket.com is already connected to global travel networks, selling properties and travel packages that include destinations in Cambodia and Laos.
However, a localised strategy — especially for activities, bus transport and events — would be necessary to achieve deeper market penetration.
Gaery suggested that seeing Southeast Asia as a single regional market could help overcome these limitations.
“The best way is to consider Southeast Asia as one big region — like Europe,” he said.
“We already have free trade agreements for most products, and if we look at the region as one integrated market, tiket.com definitely has a chance to grow further,” he added.
Recognized by Fortune Indonesia’s “40 Under 40” in 2023, Gaery has helped scale tiket.com into a multi-billion-dollar business, which became part of the Blibli Tiket Group following a successful IPO in 2022.
With a strong track record of customer-centric innovation, tiket.com continues to position itself as a competitive player not only in Indonesia but also across Asia — where digital travel platforms are expected to see renewed post-pandemic growth.
