Domestic travel key to tourism recovery in Malaysia and globally

A new report indicated that travellers will continue to explore destinations in their own countries. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

Confusing travel restrictions around the world will continue to drive domestic tourism, according to a new tourism report.

The Trending In Travel: Emerging Consumer Trends In Travel & Tourism In 2021 And Beyond report – published by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and Trip.com group – identifies that domestic travel will continue to lead the recovery of the travel and tourism sector.

The report reveals that severe and confusing travel restrictions around the world drove a significant rise in domestic tourism, with a surge in domestic hotel bookings of more than 200% on Trip.com’s platform this year compared to 2019.

“Travellers around the world have shown their eagerness to travel, whether limited to domestic travel or able to cross borders, we see a huge amount of pent-up demand steadily being released,” said Trip.com group chief executive officer Jane Sun in a statement.

She added that to better evolve with tourism recovery, the industry must adapt to emerging trends.

In tandem with the focus on domestic tourism, the concept of staycations may continue to be in demand and more so for countries with prolonged restrictions on outbound travel.

“Particularly for Asia-Pacific markets including Singapore, there has been a sustained increase in demand for staycations domestically. The report indicated that this growth and demand would also be attributed to the respective governmental policies for each country,” Trip.com explained in a statement.

The report noted that domestic travel may slow proportionally as international travel returns, but added that the trend to rediscovering domestic destinations is likely to linger in the long-term.

The report also outlined how Covid-19 has changed the way people travel. For instance, younger travellers are the first to return to travel.

Other interesting findings are the increased demand for longer stays, the importance of fee-free cancellations and the demand for high levels of health and safety checks.

WTTC president Julia Simpson said there’s clear indication that people are raring to travel again based on the report’s findings.

“It is clear people are really looking forward to travelling again. Consumers are curious, they are looking at new destinations, ‘the great outdoors’ and travel that benefits the places and people they visit.

“As travel and tourism represents over 10% of global GDP this is good news for jobs and economies. The impact in some countries has been devastating for local communities and this report shows that business is returning in earnest,” she said.

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