Asian travellers are looking further for holiday spots, choosing North American and European destinations over local and regional ones as they did previously, according to Sojern’s latest second quarter Global Travel Insights report.
The report analyses travel intent data from 350 million traveller profiles and billions of travel intent signals, including search and booking data from online and mobile channels.
For this quarter, Honolulu was the most searched beach destination for Asian travellers. Singapore, which was the top beach destination searched last quarter, has fallen off the list.
Top of the list is Bali, followed by Melbourne, Phuket, Barcelona and then Honolulu to round off the top 5.
London is top city choice for Asians.
London is top on the list for Asian travellers looking for a city holiday. After that comes Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo and then Paris. Last quarter, Tokyo was top of the list.
Those seeking recreational and sight-seeing holidays are likely headed to Japan with Osaka and Okinawa most searched, followed by Rome, Sydney and Melbourne.
The report also highlighted the travel trends and plans for Asian travellers during the upcoming long weekend over Hari Raya Puasa in late June.
“Asian travel marketers know now that travellers are trying to decide just how long a long weekend they will take – with both the Thursday and Friday before Eid al-Fitr on the top departure dates list. This presents a prime opportunity to engage new customers and Sojern recommends targeting them with a combination of upper-funnel brand messaging to introduce them to your brand and mid-funnel engagement campaigns to nurture them through the funnel,” said the report.
Another noteworthy recommendation in the report in light of the new travel findings for the second quarter: with real-time pricing and availability, Facebook Dynamic Travel Ads are a great way to capture these early planners. The travel industry’s CTR on Facebook is higher than any other vertical at 2.63%. Travellers are converting and booking more with brands who have an active Facebook presence, it said.
