This is one understandable and self-evident sentiment that an international travel survey in August has discovered, especially in APAC
In an August 2022 survey of 8,182 travelers aged over 18 across 10 markets (Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Thailand, the UK, and USA, including 2,461 respondents from China, Indonesia and Thailand), it was concluded that widespread inflation was not dampening travel appetites much.
Across the three countries in the Asia Pacific region, 71% of travelers in China and 56% in both Indonesia and Thailand had indicated “no impact” to “moderate impact” in their decision when planning and evaluating the cost of travel.
Respondents citing a “moderate impact” of inflation on travel plans had also indicated that cheap accommodation rates were not the most important factor when they were booking their travel.
Other APAC findings include:
- 48% of travelers in China and Thailand, and 52% of Indonesia travelers, indicated intentions to travel “internationally or domestically” over the next 12 months.
- 58% of travelers in Indonesia, followed by 56% in China and 52% in Thailand were Millennials (aged 26 to 41) and they formed the largest segment of respondents planning to travel
- 78% of APAC respondents indicated they were “very influenced” or “influenced” by the property’s social media presence in their booking decision, followed by 75% in China and 74% in Indonesia. Gen Z (age 18–25) were also the most likely to be influenced by the social media presence of the property they booked, compared to other age groups. Thai respondents in the survey were the most influenced by social media.
- 49% of Gen Z global travelers in the survey were most likely to take a working holiday (termed ‘bleisure’ in the survey), followed by 46% of Millennials. Thai respondents were the leaders in bleisure travel (65%), compared to Indonesia respondents (62%) and Chinese respondents (47%). Overall, a quarter or more of travelers from every country surveyed were planning bleisure travel.
- 86%, 85% and 76% of respondents from China, Thailand and Indonesia respectively indicated they were “very supportive” or “supportive” of the use of AI and robots by accommodation providers to replace hospitality professionals.
- 89%, 75% and 72% of respondents from China, Thailand and Indonesia respectively had indicated they were “very likely” or “likely” to change their perception of an accommodation provider if they have a negative customer experience when accessing and using the accommodation provider website—for example if the website is slow or the payment process is not secure.
Sankar Narayan, Managing Director and CEO, SiteMinder, which commissioned the survey, said: “We can see that optimism is returning from travelers to the tourism sector, and there is demand for travel as travel restrictions and health concerns abate across the world. Despite inflation and rising costs, (respondents were) reporting they are undeterred and do not intend to cancel their travel plans, which is a positive sign for accommodation industry resilience and travel globally, particularly in Asia.
