Searches for accommodation and place of interest in Malaysia among Chinese travellers have increased this year compared to 2022. — The Star
Malaysia has been one of the top destinations of choice for Chinese travellers for a few years now, and 2023 is no different, according to new data from a home-sharing platform.
The country ranked eighth in Airbnb’s list of “top 10 most-searched countries and regions” by Chinese travellers this summer, alongside other popular Asia Pacific destinations including Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Australia.
The data revealed that searches for accommodation in Malaysia by Chinese tourists have increased by tenfold on Airbnb this summer. Generally, the number of Chinese guests on Airbnb who have searched for early summer outbound stays surge nearly sixfold as compared to 2022. About half their searches for summer travel were also for medium to long-term stays, spanning seven days or longer.
Airbnb’s general manager for South-East Asia, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Amanpreet Bajaj, also said in a statement that domestic tourism in Malaysia is growing. “Domestic tourism has proved to be resilient in times of crisis and an option of a more immediate and positive economic impact to local economies,” said Amanpreet.
Breakfast story
Malaysians are less likely to include breakfast when booking an accommodation. — Handout
Meanwhile, a different survey by a digital booking platform shows that when it comes to holidays, Malaysian travellers are not too keen on hotel breakfasts.
The survey, run by Agoda, takes a look at which travellers in the Asia Pacific market are most likely to book accommodations that include a breakfast package. Apparently, Malaysians rank the lowest – at 23% – among 10 Asian markets.
The data shows that in the past two months, travellers from Taiwan were most likely to book stays with breakfast deals included, followed by travellers from Vietnam, and Indian.
South Koreans, Japanese and Malaysians make up the least likely group of travellers who include breakfast in their accommodation bookings.
In a statement, Agoda’s regional vice president of South-East Asia and Oceania, Enric Casals, said that this is probably due to a few reasons, namely the preference to start their day a little later, or to search for food elsewhere.
“There are lots of factors at play to determine the popularity of including breakfast when booking your accommodation,” said Casals in the statement.
“It’s often the flexibility to decide last-minute depending on your plans during the trip, but it’s well worth noting that
if you do plan to start the day with a meal, it’s often most economical to include it during the booking.”
