Asia’s indie travellers are rewriting the rules of tourism and AI is along for the ride
Forget the old image of the backpacker figuring it out as they go. Today’s Asian indie traveller is just as likely to be a 50-something supporting a family-run guesthouse, a Swiftie crossing borders for a concert, or a solo traveller in Seoul building an itinerary entirely on their own terms. The numbers in our latest Online Travel Tracker Vol 6: The Indie Stack back this up. Half of APAC travellers now book independently, and 89% have ventured off the beaten path in the last year, with even more planning to next time. Solo travel is having a real moment with up 16% across Asia in 2025, driven largely by travellers from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan who say freedom and flexibility are the main draw. And it’s not an either/or world anymore because business and leisure are blending fast, with three-quarters of Asian travellers now folding personal time into work trips.
So where are these travellers getting their ideas, and who’s actually convincing them to hit “book”? Increasingly, it’s not a travel agent. Only 16% of Southeast Asian travellers say agents are their main source of inspiration, and just 7% book through one. Social media has taken over that role almost entirely, shaping up to 80% of destination decisions. YouTube leads the pack as an information source, livestream shopping is exploding in markets like Thailand, Indonesia and India, and platforms like TikTok and XiaoHongShu are collapsing the gap between discovery and purchase. TikTok GO now lets users book hotels and experiences without leaving the app, while XiaoHongShu’s travel community has ballooned to 130 million monthly outbound users. Meanwhile, AI adoption is moving fast but unevenly. Depending on whose survey you read, somewhere between half and nearly all Asian travellers are using AI for research or planning, though trust varies wildly by market; high in the Philippines and Taiwan, much more cautious in Japan and South Korea.
What does all this mean for how OTAs, brands and destinations need to show up, and is the AI trust gap actually a problem, or just a sign of where the next wave of adoption will come from? There’s also a regulatory undercurrent worth watching, as cities and tourism boards across the region start cracking down on unlicensed short-term rentals while simultaneously trying to legitimise the platforms driving so much of this growth. The full report digs into all of it, including the regional breakdowns, the platform-by-platform booking data, and what’s coming next as OTAs chase a bigger share of an increasingly fragmented, AI-curious, social-first travel market.
Download the full Online Travel Tracker Vol 6: The Indie Stack here.
WiT Indie is happening on July 2 – 3 in Penang, Malaysia. We’ve gathered a lineup of industry leaders from AirAsia MOVE, Klook, TikTok, and more, as well as those who are building and redefining indie travel from the ground up. Get your tickets now.
