Retail in Asia

In Trends

Expedia survey shows positive Summer travel desire among Hongkongers

An overwhelming 79 percent of respondents surveyed in Hong Kong said that they had plans to travel overseas during June to September this year, with 51 percent of respondents saying they had already made a booking. A further 28 percent said they planned to travel during this period but were still in the process of making their travel plans. Overall, 89 percent of the surveyed Hong Kongers said they are either very interested or somewhat interested in overseas travel in the coming months.

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48 percent of the respondents said they now felt safer and much more confident to travel overseas, with vaccinations, increasingly stable supply of flights and accommodation, easing of destination entry requirements and travel industry support cited as easing travel concerns.

This travel confidence is reflected in the latest outbound flight searches on Expedia.com.hk that have soared 90 percent in the period May to June in comparison with the period January to February this year. International accommodation searches have also rebounded 95 percent in the same period of comparison.

Travellers between the age of 36 to 45 seem the most travel hungry this summer with 62 percent of those surveyed saying they have a trip booked versus just 26 percent amongst the 18 to 25 age group.

The survey revealed other key drivers for those willing to resume international leisure travel including the desire to explore further after being cooped up for so long (44 percent), and the desire for a longer break and vacation (39 percent). Another 32 percent cited the desire to quickly travel now to popular overseas destinations before the travelling crowds return in improving travel times.

The data also shows that those willing to travel were also prepared to spend big. On average, Hong Kong travellers are ready to spend more on travel than travellers in other Asian markets Expedia surveyed, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. 26 percent of the respondents surveyed in Hong Kong said they were prepared to spend more than HKD 15,000 (USD 1,911) per person on an overseas summer trip.

SEE ALSO : Booking.com says travel confidence varies across APAC region

Despite the current limitation of group travel, Japan featured prominently among the most favoured foreign travel destination for Hong Kongers’ this summer, with Tokyo, Osaka and Hokkaido all featuring in the survey’s top five most desired destinations and Tokyo the clear favourite ‘go-to’ city, both for this summer and when all travel restrictions are fully lifted post-pandemic.