With tourism and hospitality figures nearing pre-pandemic peaks last year, what strategies can the industry adopt for continued growth?

According to some reports, tourism in the Asia Pacific region (APAC) grew 8% in early 2025, nearing 92% of pre-pandemic levels per data from UN Tourism, trailing Europe. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) data shows the region’s air traffic remained roughly 9% below that of 2019 through Nov 2024.

IATA has projected that Asians will drive half of all global air passenger growth over the next 15 years, fueled by a population hitting 4.3bn by 2030, and two-thirds of the world’s middle class in the region by 2034.

New routes and campaigns are expected to propel intra-regional travel, reshaping hospitality amid diverse source markets such as China, Japan and South Korea.

​What one survey suggests
Based on a 2025 survey of 526 hoteliers across 12 markets, one travel platform has made the following observations and predictions:

  • 35% of respondents reported advanced customization — the top maturity stage where marketing, booking, and on-site across all touchpoints for top markets imbibe cultural staff training, local influencers, acceptance of wide ranges of payment platforms, halal dining, etc.
  • Respondents from hotels with advanced localization levels reported much stronger results from their efforts. In these stages — involving advanced customization and enhanced personalization, 99% of hotel managers self-reported guest satisfaction improvements, 95%
  • Marketing trends: Most hotels in the survey (~60%) cited using local digital platforms for top markets; fewer partnered with influencers despite high engagement potential
  • Booking/payments trends: A majority of respondents cited offering language/currency support; over half accepted local digital wallets, while cash options lagged.
  • On-site trends: Over half of respondents cited providing tailored dining and multilingual amenities; cultural staff training remained limited.
  • Barriers/enablers trends: Cultural/data gaps and doubts about returns on investment were cited to hinder adoption: respondents from advanced hotels cited heavily reliance on online travel agencies for insights and tools.

According to Andrew Smith, Senior Vice President of Supply, Agoda, the firm that commissioned the survey, in 2026, regional hotels should treat localization holistically — integrating language, payments, design, and marketing across the full guest journey — instead of standardizing services. This requires shifting “from standardization to segmentation, and from mass communication to genuine cultural resonance.”