Domestic travel will lead the way during the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year holiday (LNY).
Sojern, a digital marketing solutions provider for the travel industry, analyzed the travel trends and insights looking at countries within Asia Pacific (APAC) that typically have the strongest Lunar New Year seasonality - Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
The demand for travel is predominantly domestically driven, with the exception of Hong Kong where more than 50% are looking at exploring international travel - whether it will translate into actual bookings will depend on the status of travel restrictions.
The dates of travel are between February 11th - 14th coinciding with the LNY dates. At least 40% of travellers started to search a month prior to LNY with the exceptions of Japan, Thailand and Malaysia - all of which are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases with lockdowns and state of emergencies having been declared. In Hong Kong, more than 10% of travellers are looking to book trips of at least four days. Travel marketers should be planning to target APAC travellers now, and again two weeks prior to LNY to capitalise on the demand.
Inter-country travel between Hong Kong and Singapore is showing a peak in demand between LNY (Feb 2021) and the March 2021 school holidays. (Reference Chart 1 below).
When looking at Singapore’s domestic trends, pre-planning has started for LNY, Valentine’s Day and the March school holidays. Data shows that the domestic hotel search demand has improved drastically with a 73% year-over-year (YoY) uplift (Reference Chart 2 below). It will be interesting to keep an eye on the future international travel intent to Singapore with the announcement that World Economic Forum's (WEF) 2021 will be taking place in May in Singapore as opposed to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.
Chart 1 - Hong Kong Inbound flight searches from Singapore
Chart 2 - Domestic Hotel Searches and Future Dates In Singapore
Conclusion
The findings this month include an analysis of travel intent within APAC indicating a peak in domestic travel. The Lunar New Year is seeing that in Hong Kong, more than 50% are looking at exploring international travel, and there is also a peak of travel between Singapore and Hong Kong. Singapore’s domestic hotel stays continue to be popular.
