Why This Is a Seminal Moment for Asia's Domestic Travel Market
Skift Take
The big migration to domestic travel has begun. Such a momentous occasion will surely bring about changes, especially in Southeast Asia where inbound has always stolen the limelight over local business.
For many Asian destinations, particularly those in Southeast Asia, domestic travel has always played second fiddle to inbound tourism, although hotels have given it more respect through the years as rising middle class and low-cost carriers create bigger volumes of local travelers.
Enter Covid-19, and the domestic market is no longer just a weekend business for hotels but “the one.” There isn't another, as regional and international tourism recovery remains a long haul.
Two in three respondents from TripAdvisor's survey said they will travel domestically within the next six months. More than 40 percent said their next international trip will be more than a year from now; 31 percent somewhere between seven and 12 months, said Jane Lim, TripAdvisor's vice president of global markets.
As all data leads to domestic demand, big hotel chains and online travel agencies have swooped in fast. Agoda has launched GoLocal, its biggest integrated campaign to stimulate domestic tourism across Asia-Pacific. Klook has optimized its platform's user interface to highlight domestic activities, which include many new hyper local ones.
Hotelbeds is in a drive to add 10,000 new properties by yearend in domestic destinations globally, including China, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. InterContinental Hotels Group’s 30 hotels in Thailand are offering up to 50 percent off rates. Asian countries like Thailand and Japan are throwing money at locals to holiday at home.
This, is a seminal moment for the Asia's domestic market. With exceptions such as Japan and China, domestic has always been less coveted than inbound. It's not that it isn't a huge market (except for cities such as Singapore or Hong Kong); it's the spend.
Krungsri Bank research estimates that around 160 million domestic trips were made in Thailand in 2017, but they constituted only 35 percent of tourism receipts due to shorter stays and lower spending compared with inbound.
The Australian Tourism Export Council put it more bluntly: “Australians are being urged to holiday at home, but will they spend $5,211 a trip? It’s just not feasible to think most Australians woul
