Online travel-services comparison site Kayak has established its regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

The move was made in recognition of Hongkongers’ penchant for bargain holidays and straightforward booking arrangements, according to an email from the firm.

“Hong Kong is a global city with great accessibility to so many other places,” said Kayak’s senior regional manager APAC Matthew Wong. “[The city] also serves as a gateway for visitors from North America and Europe into Asia, and vice versa. In fact, our 2018 travel-search data showed that Hong Kong is ranked in the top three of the most-frequented stopover cities among North Americans and Europeans travelling to other destinations in Asia-Pacific.”

Wong added that travellers are becoming more flexible in what they want, citing data showing that multi-city, open-jaw and one-way flight searches are constantly increasing. Also, besides popular destinations such as Tokyo and Taipei, Kayak has seen an increase of interest in the more under-the-radar cities from its users in Hong Kong and Mainland China.

“Second-tier cities are showing 150- to 300-per-cent year-on-year increase in travel searches, proving an intense uptick in interest,” said Wong.

Kayak was founded in 2004 by CEO Steve Hafner and CTO Paul English, and now operates in 60 countries and territories using more than 30 languages.