The Trip.com Group looks back at the dynamic landscape of travel over the past year and provides insights into the top travel trends of 2024, the AI revolution, and sustainable travel.
China reopens borders, sparking global travel surge
The opening of China’s borders has led to a significant increase in travel, driven by a wave of Chinese travelers with pent-up demand for international travel. Trip.com data reveals that outbound travel bookings have increased significantly, increasing six times compared to 2022. This trend is especially noticeable during holiday periods, such as his eight-day Golden Week in October 2023, when outbound surged eight times over. trip.
Music concerts featuring international artists are expected to maintain their prominence as the most popular global events
The data also reveals that Chinese travelers have a strong interest in visiting Southeast Asia, with Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia topping the list of preferred international destinations in 2023. .
Chinese tourism to Japan is also showing steady signs of recovery, with the number of visitors in 2023 increasing by four digits compared to the same period in 2022 and exceeding 60% of pre-pandemic levels.
Top source markets for inbound tourists in China include South Korea, Japan, Singapore, United States, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, Thailand, United Kingdom, and Germany. The Chinese destinations preferred by these visitors are Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Zhuhai, Hangzhou, Foshan, Xiamen, Zhongshan, and Chengdu.
AI will be at the center of forecast planning for 2024
With the widespread integration of AI, the travel landscape is undergoing a paradigm shift. One example is Trip.com’s TripGenie, which was launched last year. It is an advanced AI travel assistant integrated into the Trip.com mobile app that helps travelers plan their trip, from creating bespoke itineraries to enabling instant bookings and providing lightning-fast responses to users. To do. query. The personalized travel assistant not only answers your questions, but also recommends tourist attractions, shopping destinations, and provides booking links, images, and city maps.
Expanding beyond TripGenie, Trip.com also introduced AI-powered curated listings to improve the booking experience for users. Examples include Trip.Best, which recommends the best travel options, and Trip.Deals, which displays popular flights, accommodations, and other travel deals. Trip.Trends features the most popular travel topics and events based on user searches. These dynamic edits are tailored to user preferences derived from real-time data and offer a glimpse into the future of travel planning in 2024.
Searches on Trip.Deals show that users around the world are particularly interested in the top five destinations: London, Bangkok, Amsterdam, Paris, and Hong Kong.
Music festivals and theme parks lead the way.
The world of travel in 2024 is embracing the fun trend of event tourism, with festivals and iconic theme parks emerging as the cornerstone of travel.
Theme parks in particular have seen an impressive 65% increase in bookings in 2023 compared to 2019 levels. The top 10 theme parks in the world in 2023 include Hong Kong Disneyland. Universal Studios Japan, Ocean Park Hong Kong. Universal Studios Singapore; Tokyo Disneyland; Tokyo DisneySea; Everland, South Korea. Universal Studios Hollywood; Legoland, Malaysia. and Adventure Cove Waterpark.
Five of the world’s top 10 most popular attractions in 2023 will be theme parks, with Singapore Zoo, Gardens by the Bay, The Peak, SEA Aquarium and Aquarium also making the top 10 list.
Featuring international artists, the concert is expected to maintain its prominence as the most popular global event, promising a thrilling 2024 filled with unforgettable cultural experiences.
In 2023, the Events + Tickets category will be one of the most popular products on Trip.com’s platform, with concerts such as Chou Jielun’s Carnival World Tour in Bangkok and Wang Lihong’s ONE concert in the same city. A music festival was displayed. Top two most popular concerts respectively.
These concerts also led to a surge in hotel and flight bookings. For example, searches for flights to Bangkok showed a massive 213% increase, while hotel room bookings in Bangkok on December 9th jumped 129% compared to December 9th, 2018. . Same two weeks. Furthermore, flight bookings from China recorded a significant increase of 118%.
Sustainable travel and event tourism will rise in 2024
Two key trends will shape the travel landscape in 2024: sustainable travel and the rise of event tourism. These trends are not just numerical predictions; they represent changes in traveler awareness and preferences.
More than 16 million customers have chosen low-carbon travel options, demonstrating a growing interest in eco-friendly exploration, according to Trip.com Group’s latest ESG report.
The Group’s Low Carbon Hotel Standards Initiative was also launched in 2023 with encouraging results. More than 1,500 partners have been shortlisted as low carbon hotels, suggesting sustainable accommodation will become a major trend.
Event tourism, including concerts, festivals, and sporting events, is expected to gain momentum in 2024. With Paris hosting the Summer Olympics in 2024, the Ticket + Hotel category is expected to be a popular product, underscoring the growing importance of the event in Paris. Shape your travel choices.
