While other ticketing platforms encountered difficulties handling the overwhelming volume and demand for Taylor Swift’s world tour ticket sales, Klook, the leading travel and experiences platform in Asia, managed to sail through without a hitch.
On July 7, Klook’s Experiences Packages for the Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour in Singapore sold out within a matter of hours, leaving fans in awe. Among the enthusiastic buyers, Filipino Swifties secured the highest number of tickets through the Klook app. Over 600,000 fans from across the region eagerly awaited their turn online, armed with their Klook app, ready to splurge on bundled hotel and ticket packages. The most extravagant package available was priced at nearly S$5,000 (approximately Php205,000).
Klook’s seamless ticketing experience and the allure of comprehensive packages attracted swift action from fans, ensuring their spots at the highly anticipated concert.
How exactly did the company pull this off?
“We have a wealth of experience in ticketing concerts and music events, and our preparations began even before the pandemic. During the event hiatus caused by the pandemic, we took the opportunity to enhance our systems and push our capabilities to new heights. The successful ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s concert are a testament to our commitment to delivering an unparalleled booking experience,” shared Bernie Xiong, CTO & Co-Founder of Klook.
As a travel tech company at our core, we have honed our expertise in handling a wide range of travel products, including attractions and rail tickets, each with its unique complexities. The accumulation of knowledge, learnings, and experience, along with our dedicated tech team, has enabled us to achieve this feat. We are proud to have provided a seamless and exceptional ticketing experience for our customers, solidifying our position as a leading platform in the industry.”
Robust Tech Infrastructure to Manage Over 10 Million Users Entering the Queue in 1 Second
Klook’s robust and well-designed infrastructure played a crucial role in the seamless ticket sale for Taylor Swift’s Singapore tour. The platform’s capabilities were put to the test as it successfully managed the massive influx of users, proving its capacity to handle over 10 million concurrent users in a queue. With near real-time capacity management and resource provisioning, Klook can dynamically adjust its system resources to ensure a consistently smooth user experience.
The secret lies in the combination of a Content Delivery Network (CDN) system and Edge Computing technologies. Klook’s in-house queuing system intelligently adjusts its pass-through rate, allowing millions of users worldwide to browse and cart out seamlessly, creating a harmonious balance between stability and queue management. The result is a flawless ticketing process without any crashes, with the platform processing over 10 million users queuing per second and facilitating thousands of successful transactions every minute. In essence, it’s like filling a colossal 60,000-seat concert venue with excited ticket holders in a matter of minutes.
To ensure its system’s robustness, Klook subjected it to rigorous load and stress testing. This preparation enabled the platform to handle the surge in demand during peak times without compromising performance. Notably, while managing ticket sales for the concert, Klook’s system continued to function smoothly for all other users exploring and booking from the vast array of over 500,000 experiences, hotels, and mobility options available on the platform. Even on busy Fridays, when customers are planning for their upcoming weekend trips or activities, Klook’s platform maintained its efficiency and reliability.
AI Powered Anti-Fraud System to Ensure a Level Playing Field for Fans
To tackle the persistent issue of ticket scalpers and bots, which often disrupt the ticket-buying process and concert experience for genuine fans, Klook took decisive action. The platform implemented an app-only approach, ensuring that authentic fans with unique IDs had a fair chance to purchase tickets without the hassle of dealing with multiple devices and accounts that could strain the system.
Klook harnessed the power of AI in its in-house fraud prevention and security system, using advanced techniques such as device fingerprinting and behavior analysis. By closely monitoring user accounts and identifying suspicious activities, the robust system can swiftly detect and thwart fraudulent orders, or subject them to manual verifications if necessary. These measures secure the ticketing process, making it more challenging for sophisticated bots, often employed by scalpers, to operate effectively.
Thanks to these proactive measures, the playing field has been leveled, ensuring that all fans have an equal and equitable opportunity to secure tickets for Taylor Swift’s concert. Additionally, these efforts have enhanced the overall ticketing experience, allowing fans to focus on enjoying the event without worrying about unfair competition from scalpers and bots.
Revolutionizing Music Tourism
The recent successes achieved by the leading travel platform were not mere happenstance but the result of three years of dedicated efforts. Klook had already invested in developing a robust infrastructure to handle high-traffic events like concerts featuring JJ Lin and Jay Chou, proving their commitment to delivering exceptional experiences in the music industry.
Klook is introducing a unique dimension to music tourism and revolutionizing the entire booking experience. Drawing upon the company’s extensive expertise across various travel verticals, Klook curates and creates value-added bundles that go beyond standalone concert tickets. Fans now have the opportunity to enjoy multi-day experiences and services encompassing attractions, experiences, hotel accommodations, staycations, and transportation options like rail, car rental, or transfers. This comprehensive approach drives greater economic benefits for the host destination. In fact, Klook’s data reveals that when tourists attend a concert or event, their in-destination spending can amount to 4-5 times the face value of the ticket, contributing significantly to the local economy.
Looking ahead, Swifties who have secured an Experience package can anticipate a range of exciting things to do on Klook when they visit Singapore in March 2024. As musical tourism and experiential travel continue to gain popularity, Klook remains at the forefront, pushing boundaries, and assisting travelers in creating memorable moments of joy throughout their journeys.
