Braze, a comprehensive customer engagement platform, today revealed findings from its newest data report, Ready for Takeoff: 2021 Travel Industry Trends, Insights, and Strategies.
The research includes findings from a survey of 9,500 consumers across 13 global markets including Australia, conducted by Wakefield Research, which explored COVID-19’s impact on consumer behaviour, expectations, and sentiment around travel. In combination with proprietary data from Apptopia, Braze, and Skyscanner, the report provides guidance for how travel and hospitality brands can successfully meet the challenges and opportunities that come next.
Key APAC travel trends from the report include:
Price reigns supreme but Health and Safety Measures Can Be a Deal Breaker
More than other global regions, APAC travellers prioritize budget—and expect travel brands to meet their price expectations:
· 63% of today’s travellers in APAC describe themselves as “budget-minded,” while only 37% of APAC travellers are “luxury-minded.”
· However the survey showed that, when asked to rank the most important factors in choosing a travel company, 35% of consumers put health and safety first, with those putting cost first slightly behind at 26%.*
Clear health information, vaccines and digital health passes hold the key for Australian travellers
The report’s findings are in line with sentiment revealed by a recent Skyscanner poll of over 1000 Australians to find out their attitudes to digital health passes and what would make them feel confident about booking travel in 2021. The findings revealed that;
· 73% of Australians are happy to carry digital health documentation (in the form of vaccine certificate, or digital health pass) to include COVID-19 testing and vaccine information, if this enabled them to travel again.
· 52% of Australians polled cited being vaccinated as the most important reason to have the confidence to book travel and travel abroad.**
Paul Whiteway, Regional Director of Asia Pacific at Skyscanner comments:
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, travellers have shown they are willing to react and adapt to changing travel requirements. Contactless technology, which promotes safety first, is clearly something travellers would be ready to embrace, like the willingness to adopt electronic boarding passes. Clear, consistent, and transparent communication about these new types of entry requirements will be essential for travel providers in order to provide a positive end-to-end experience for their customers in APAC.”
“Strict restrictions for international and regional travel combined with reduced capacity in APAC is having a knock-on effect on ticket prices in some markets. As restrictions ease and additional regional travel bubbles come into play, we expect both airlines and tourism boards to stimulate demand, which could have a positive effect on ticket prices.”
Top Booked Destinations Vary by Region
While COVID-19 is a global pandemic, its impact on travellers varies greatly by region (and country) due to local government responses, resources, and culture:
· The top booked destinations for APAC travellers are oriented to domestic, in-country travel owing to strict border restrictions for international leisure travel.
· The top three countries seeing the most domestic travel in APAC are South Korea, Australia, and Japan.
· The top booked APAC destinations include;
o South Korea (Jeju, Busan Seoul)
o Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast)
o Japan (Okinawa, Tokyo, Sapporo)***
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