Klook appoints Kenny Sham as HK GM, launches workcation programme for staff

Former LEGO director and head of marketing for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau Kenny Sham has joined Klook as Hong Kong general manager.

In his new position, Sham is responsible for enhancing the brand's popularity in the Hong Kong market and reinforcing the company's business development. Boasting many years of industry experience across various sectors, Sham supports the company in establishing strategic partnerships with different enterprises and expanding the merchants' portfolio.

Klook said in a statement that Sham joined the company in April and has a passion for impactful marketing which can help translate into sales via virtual or physical retail channels.

According to Sham's LinkedIn, he spent about six years at the LEGO Group where his last position was director, head of marketing for Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. He headed up the marketing team, including the brand marketing, trade marketing and digital marketing teams for the markets. He was also the lead in eCommerce strategy development and market penetration.

Sham joined the company in 2016 as senior marketing manager. He also worked for other notable brands prior to joining the LEGO group. For example, he worked for Abbott from 2013 to 2016, where his last position was sales and marketing manager (trade and OTC). Sham also worked for Johnson & Johnson in the early stage of his career. He served as senior brand manager before his departure with duties including brand, digital and interactive platform management. He was also responsible for above-the-line and below-the-line marketing activities.

In addition to Sham's appointment, Klook has also rolled out the workcation programme, allowing employees to work and travel in any country for up to 30 days. In a statement, Klook said the new programme is aimed at encouraging its staff to explore the world after the pandemic and discover more new experiences. Staffers who travel and work overseas at the same time will not have their annual leave deducted.

Sham said, "Klook hopes to offer more flexibility and freedom to our staff, instead of building a work mode consisting of many constraints. We champion travel and are happy to launch the workcation programme to encourage our staff to explore. This programme truly demonstrates Klook's ethos and enables them to travel again after two years while receiving the same amount of salary."

Klook added that after the reduction of the quarantine period for citizens and travellers coming from foreign countries to Hong Kong from 14 to seven days, Hong Kong customers' demand for travel information and products increased significantly. The traffic of Hong Kong users looking for overseas travel products increased by 70% in April on Klook. More than 60% of users said Japan was their most preferred destination, followed by Taiwan (18%) and Thailand (16%).

"We are very optimistic about the tourism industry in Hong Kong in the next six to nine months, and Klook has also been strengthening the product development and marketing of cross-border travel on the platform. We have been working with multiple tourism boards to prepare for the reopening of the border of Hong Kong. At the same time, we hope to diversify overseas travel experience offerings to our customers," Sham added.

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