skift take
Who do you think has come back and is coming back again? “Ho facing east!” For travelers around the world, the latest Skyscanner data reveals
— Peden Doma Bhutia
Many destinations in the Asia-Pacific region are making a comeback as travelers are confidently booking long-haul trips again. Hotspots include the neon lights and skyscrapers of Tokyo, the pristine beaches of Phuket and Hanoi’s maze of narrow streets in Old Quarter.
Travel Market Skyscanner’s report examines flight search and booking data from the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa to understand how travelers are planning and booking their trips over the next six months. I investigated.
People are booking long-distance travel more than 90 days in advance, returning to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, the report states that search share has returned to pre-pandemic seasonal norms.
“Globally, more travelers are using Skyscanner than ever before,” said Mike Ferguson, Director of Destination Marketing. The brand, owned by Trip.com Group, has an average of more than 100 million travelers accessing its platform each month.
Further signs of flexible search patterns
According to Skyscanner, more than 50% of travelers use exploratory searches without specific dates or destinations in mind. Many travelers are looking for ideas and comparing dates and locations to find the most advantageous deal.
In a previous conversation with Skift, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky shared how millions of customers have taken advantage of the platform’s flexible date features. It pointed out. This feature basically says, “I’m willing to go anywhere, whether it’s for a night, a weekend, or a week.” This date range is one month. ”
The return of long-distance travel
Nick Hall, CEO of the UK-based digital tourism think tank, said a global resurgence in long-distance travel meant destinations were able to defy tough economic conditions and create value for money. He said there is a huge opportunity to attract high-quality tourists.
The main factor is that airlines are adding capacity for round-trip flights.
Asia-Pacific airlines saw international passenger numbers increase by 376% year-on-year in January, reaching 56% of January 2019 levels, according to testimony from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
January’s numbers were the strongest year-on-year comparison across regions, although from a very low base as travel bans remained in place for most of the region.
The region’s transport capacity increased to 167 percent and load factor increased by 36.6 percentage points to 83 percent, the highest of any region in the world.
trending destinations
Eight of the top 10 destinations among travelers around the world are in Asia, with Taiwan leading the way, followed by Japan and Laos.
Source: Skyscanner
Despite being a top trending destination, Taiwan has a small relative share in searches. Japan has the largest share, followed by South Korea and Vietnam.
Skyscanner noted that all three countries benefit from improved direct flight services and air connectivity.
Outside of Asia, Saudi Arabia and Albania are the two countries with the largest year-over-year increases in searches in the first quarter.
While Europe remains a popular region for travelers from the Americas, Asia-Pacific dominates seven of the top 10 trending spots, with Asian countries occupying the top five spots.
China is the top trending destination, followed by Japan and Taiwan.
Source: Skyscanner
For Asia Pacific travelers, Taiwan, Laos and Japan recorded the strongest year-over-year growth in the first quarter, with seven of the top 10 trending destinations within the region.
Laos, in particular, has experienced an economic recovery due to the introduction of new routes by international and regional airlines and increased demand from travelers seeking more unique and off-the-beaten-path destinations.
In the second and third quarters, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam were the most popular destinations among travelers, accounting for more than two-thirds of trending search volume.
Reservation window go up
Travelers from Europe, the Middle East and Africa are booking their summer vacation tickets two to three months in advance, while travelers from Asia-Pacific are booking well in advance, not just at the last minute, the report said. are doing.
In the first quarter of this year, most domestic travel bookings within Europe, the Middle East and Africa were booked for windows of 7 to 29 days. Booking slots have increased even more when planning your summer vacation, with a 50% increase in vacations booked 60 to 89 days in advance.
At the end of the first quarter, booking periods of more than 90 days still accounted for the highest share (31%) of travel to short-haul destinations from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Source: Skyscanner
This confidence was also reflected in bookings for long-haul travel, particularly to Asia-Pacific, where the share of bookings longer than 90 days increased by 11% to 40% in the first quarter.
Asia-Pacific travel booking windows remained relatively constant throughout the first quarter as travelers preferred shorter booking windows for domestic travel.
However, with the easing of travel restrictions, last-minute reservations and reservations with long-term reservation periods are increasing.
Skyscanner reports that short-haul travel has increased by 55% for booking windows of more than 90 days, while bookings for less than a week have increased by 22%.
We have also seen a significant increase in booking slots for long-haul travel as Asia Pacific travelers become more confident in long-haul travel and planning.
Source: Skyscanner
In the Americas, booking windows are returning to normal seasons as travelers plan domestic and short-haul trips at least two months in advance.
For more information, check out Skift Research’s Travel Tracker, which releases the latest results on Tuesdays.
Photo credit: Destinations in the Asia-Pacific region feature prominently in travel searches, according to a new report from Skyscanner.
