Expedia: US and UK travelers are progressively coming to SEA, and Thailand is one of the reasons
Based on the data from Q1 2017 booking window, with June to August 2017 travel period in mind, versus the same period last year, Expedia.co.th revealed that Asian cities are seeing the highest demand of travellers from the US and UK for this summer 2017.
Popular Asian cities among US and UK travellers
- While US and UK are driving travellers into Asia this summer, the data showed key Asia-destination trends as follows:
- Cities in China and India are key destinations for US travellers this summer. The most popular Mainland China cities for US travellers are Beijing and Shanghai, with Hong Kong also in the mix.
- Asia is also a top destination for UK travellers this summer. The top ten cities for UK travellers span across 10 different Asian geographies.
- Bangkok and Beijing, Delhi, Hong Kong, Manila and Tokyo overlap as popular cities for both US and UK travellers this summer.
A closer look at city by city based on popularity
The ten most popular Asian city destinations for US travelers this Summer are Manis (Philippines), Tokyo (Japan), Bangkok (Thailand), Beijing (Mainland China), Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai (Mainland China), Hong Kong, Mumbai (India), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and Delhi (India).
For UK travelers inbound to Asia this summer are Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, Tokyo (Japan), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Denpasar (Indonesia) and Manila (Philippines)
The growth factor
Of the ten Asian cities experiencing the most year-on-year growth from the U.S., five are in China while cities within Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and India.
Cheaper flights from the US into parts of China and from UK to some Asian destinations may be helping to drive these trends.
Growth trends city by city
The top ten Asian cities experiencing the most year-on-year growth from the US in Summer 2017 are
Laoag City in Philippines, Guiling, Shenzhen, Nanchang, Chongqing and Hefei in Mainland China, Sapporo in Japan, and Rangoon in Myanmar.
Though not doubling 2016’s growth, these cities saw an increase in bookings; starting with Kuching and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, Davoa and Manila in Philippines, Da Nang and Hanoi in Vietnam, and Kochi and Hyderabad in India.
Why ‘Asia’ as a destination for US and UK travellers?:
As for UK travellers, Asia ticks all the boxes this summer when it comes to UK traveller motivations; both culture and unique experiences for inbound travellers. A recent Expedia research in Europe reveals that UK travellers seek the ‘once in a lifetime’, ‘you only live once’ and ‘cultural experiences’ when travelling to Asia. Specifically, UK travellers travelled, on average of 3.5 times in 2016, more than half of these for perianal, and most of those the motivation was sightseeing (53 percent) and relaxing (52 percent). 68 percent of 2016 trips were taken outside of their home country, with 67 percent of travellers expressed desire to experience other countries with a combination of value and ticking off a ‘bucket list’ destination. Being outdoors also is one of the key drivers for destination decision-making.
For US travellers, according to a 2016 report by Singapore Tourism Board shares that motivations for Americas to visit Asia include visiting friends and family (45 percent), vacation (27 percent); and Business conference (21 percent).
Thailand a top destination for travellers
Thailand has seen year-on-year growth in several cities. Udon Thani and Hat Yai were up by 200 percent in bookings from Southeast Asia markets. Phuket also saw doubled in bookings from Netherlands and increased by 55 percent in demand from UK. While Bangkok, being the capital, was up by 90 percent of bookings from Belgium and Netherlands and doubled bookings from Brazil and France and 135 percent from Spain.
1All data is based on Q1 2017 booking window with June – August 2017 travel window vs. Q1 2016 booking window with June – August 2016 travel window
2Source: Expedia MeSo Multi-Generational Travel Trends report
