Traveler insights report Q1 2023 from Expedia Group shows that travelers are gaining confidence to search further out and are starting to plan earlier for 2023 travel. And as restrictions continue to ease in Asia Pacific, travel searches are rising.
By digging into traveler insights and understand continuously changing travel and booking behavior, marketers can learn how travelers are searching and booking in order to best inspire, reach and convert them.
Download the report to understand and get more insights into the key takeaways, including:
- Travelers start to plan ahead again.
While most travelers are still planning and searching for trips in the short term the share for longer search windows increased during Q4 2022. During the last quarter of 2022, 35% of overall searches were for travel in 2023 — a 55% increase YoY according to the report.
This means that traveler confidence is increasing and people are starting to plan their trips earlier in advance.
- As APAC loosens restrictions, travel searches are increasing for the region
Travel search volume increased 10% YoY on Expedia websites in Q4 2022, with APAC search volumes up more than 50% YoY which were signaling positive responses to travel restrictions easing in various countries, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
The rise of flexcation
With remote work options available for many, our flight data shows travelers are taking longer trips and combine working remotely with vacation.
The idea of remote work or bleisure travel isn’t new but the pandemic made it bloom. As flexible work options remain for many companies, “blended” or “flexcation” travel — a longer stay that mixes remote work and play — is on the rise. Insights from the Traveler Value Index 2023 study shows that 28% of consumers are looking to take a flexcation trip in the next 12 months
Warm weather destinations are seeing more demand as travelers in the Northern Hemisphere look to escape the cold
Easing travel restrictions in APAC, holiday travel, and the appeal of warm weather destinations all influenced the global top 10 list of booked destinations during Q4. Across the super regions, New York, Las Vegas, and London held on to the top spots, Orlando and Cancun moved up in the rankings.
Travelers started planning their warm weather escapes during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere and destinations like Boston and Denver dropped from the global top 10 list and were replaced by Miami and Dubai.
*See Top 10 booked destinations for every global region in the report
Keeping track of changing behavior and new travel trends is essential if you wish to stay ahead of your competition with the most attractive and relevant offering.
If you as a hotelier manage to monitor, predict, and act on these changes you can be ready to leverage these challenges and make the most of them at your hotel. For further details and insights, make sure to download the full report.
