사진 확대 Namba Oriental Hotel in Osaka, Japan. Klook
The number of Korean tourists visiting Japan is steadily increasing. According to statistics from the Korea Tourism Organization, Japan was the most visited country by Korean tourists in the first half of this year, accounting for about 38% of the total. It is about twice the proportion of Vietnam, which is second place. The proportion of visits to Japan continues to increase this year after 30% in 2024 and 32% in 2025. The demand for travel has expanded to small cities as well as major cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukoka, and the “Nth Travel” to visit Japan once again has also become a natural trend. As the purpose of travel and the area to visit are diversified, lodging is also becoming an important factor for travelers to consider. As travelers continue to visit, competition to dominate the Japanese hotel market is also intensifying in the travel platform industry.
In line with this trend, global travel platform Klook is also expanding the center of gravity of the Japanese travel business to accommodation. Klook, which entered the Korean market in 2016, has been targeting Japanese tourists, focusing on tours, activities, and transportation products. Recently, hotels have been actively combined here to expand the scope to an “all-in-one platform” that can use the services necessary for travel in one place.
Popular in Fukuoka, Osaka, and Sapporo
The background of Klook’s expansion of the hotel business is the rapidly increasing demand for users. Since launching the hotel category in the fourth quarter of 2023, Klook has steadily strengthened related products and benefits. In particular, traffic in the Japanese hotel category of Korean users increased by more than 164% year-on-year from September 2025 to August 2026.
The growth rate of each city is also clear. Fukuoka recorded the highest growth rate at 229%, followed by Osaka at 170%, Sapporo at 167%, Okinawa at 145%, and Tokyo at 129%. As demand spreads not only to Tokyo and Osaka, the representative cities of Japanese travel, but also to Fukuoka, Sapporo, and Okinawa, the hotel choice seems to be expanding.
Currently, Kluck’s Japanese lodging lineup consists of a wide range of hotel chains from global hotel chains to local hotel groups in Japan. Kandeo Hotel, Sotetsu Group, and Hoshino Resort are representative. Hotels that are popular with Korean users include Kandeo Hotel Osaka Namba, Namba Oriental Hotel, Shinjuku Washington Hotel Main Building, and Rem Roppongi.
More convenience for one travel route
The point where Kluck is trying to differentiate himself in the hotel business is not just increasing accommodation products. It is a strategy that allows you to book the elements necessary for travel in one place by connecting with existing transportation and activity products that have strengths.
The plan is to increase the convenience of travelers by combining “where to sleep, how to move, and what to experience” into a single travel route.
The representative product is ‘Stay Plus’. The hotel, eSIM, JR Pass, Tokyo Team Lab, and Tokyo Skytree are combined, or Osaka Juyu Pass, Umeda Sky Building, and Air Garden Observatory tickets are formed together so that you can book products necessary for accommodation and travel at once.
In particular, as the number of travelers visiting Japan increases several times, it is expected to increase convenience in that it can organize accommodation with familiar products such as transportation and tourist attraction tickets. For travelers, it is possible to reduce the hassle of having to find transportation and tourism products separately after booking accommodation, and for Klook, it is possible to expand the service area by linking hotels with transportation and activity products that have previous strengths.
Hotel reservation is a virtuous cycle of local consumption
It will also strengthen benefits based on price competitiveness. Kluck has been running “Cluck Monday” for Korean users for a year now. Every Monday, hotels in all Japanese cities will receive up to 100% discounts on a first-come, first-served basis, and 100,000 won discounts will be provided for reservations of more than 1 million won. It also applies up to 40% off and an additional 7% off each day.
Through the “All-in-One Super Pack,” which will be held until this month, up to 50,000 won will be discounted when booking a Japanese hotel, and a total of 150,000 won worth of benefits will be provided to reservation customers that can be used for local products such as transportation and activity. It is a strategy that encourages travelers to use other products in Klook as an opportunity to reserve accommodation.
The strategy is to increase synergy between categories by connecting users secured through hotels to existing products such as transportation and activities, and on the contrary, by suggesting accommodation products to existing users. It is to secure new users through hotel price competitiveness and various linked products, and to establish a structure in which the increase in users leads to the expansion of hotel products and partners again.
As Japanese travel goes beyond one-time tourism and leads to repeated visits and regional diversification, the services needed by travelers are also being subdivided.
Klook plans to expand the competitiveness of Japanese travel secured in activities and transportation to accommodation and connect it with local experiences to provide a differentiated travel experience.
“Since we began to expand the Japanese hotel category in earnest, we have been seeing rapid growth,” said Lee Joon-ho, head of the Korean branch. “In the future, we will continue to add pleasure to travel with different prices and benefits, and increase our competitiveness as Japan’s leading all-in-one platform for travel that allows you to book accommodation, movement, and activities in one place.”
[Kang Ye Shin’s trip + Reporter]
AloJapan.com