Travel experiences platform Klook and Visa have signed a memorandum of understanding covering six Southeast Asian markets, combining experience discovery, creator-led commerce, cardholder offers and Visa’s payments network.
The partnership covers Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Klook will also participate in Visa Destinations, while the companies plan joint promotions and in-destination brand activity across the region.
Klook has been expanding payment and card-network partnerships around its travel marketplace. In August, it announced a separate Asia-Pacific partnership with Mastercard. The new Visa arrangement is specifically structured around six Southeast Asian markets and a shared creator framework.
Experiences increasingly influence destination choice
The companies linked the partnership to research suggesting that activities and experiences increasingly shape where travelers decide to go.
Visa’s 2026 Global Travel Intentions study found that 37 percent of Asia-Pacific respondents plan trips around unique local experiences, compared with 29 percent globally. Klook’s Travel Pulse 2026 found that more than half of Asia-Pacific travelers no longer begin planning with a fixed destination, while 23 percent start with a specific activity and choose a destination around it.
That shift gives travel platforms and payment networks more opportunities to influence the journey before checkout. Offers can be placed around discovery, creator content and destination planning rather than only at the payment stage.
Creator commerce forms a major part of the agreement
Klook and Visa said they will establish a shared creator framework across Southeast Asia. Affiliate links from Visa creators will be hosted on Klook’s Kreator Shops, creator storefronts that connect social content with bookable travel experiences.
Klook said its Kreator Programme includes more than 30,000 creators across 88 markets. The companies argue that real-life creator content can become more important as AI-generated social content becomes easier to produce, because travelers may place greater value on seeing a person actually visit a destination or participate in an activity.
For Klook, the model connects inspiration directly with inventory and booking. For Visa, the collaboration extends cardholder engagement further upstream into travel discovery while retaining a role at the payment and rewards stages.
Commercial impact will depend on execution across markets
The six countries covered by the agreement have different payment habits, travel patterns and creator ecosystems. The companies have not disclosed financial terms or specific cardholder promotions for each market.
The partnership therefore establishes a regional framework rather than a single standardized consumer offer. The next measure of impact will be how broadly Visa Destinations offers, creator storefronts and local promotions are deployed, and whether they generate incremental bookings rather than shifting transactions that would have occurred on Klook anyway.
Featured image: Sarah Wan, General Manager for Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, Klook and Gladys Chan, Head of Marketing, Regional Southeast Asia, Visa
Klook and Mastercard collaborate to enhance travelers’ experiences across Asia Pacific