Why This Is a Seminal Moment for Asia’s Domestic Travel Market

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