Booking.com reveals the top travel dreams of a nation in waiting
● Focus of travel dreams shifts closer to home with an increased presence of domestic properties featuring in travel ‘wish lists’ created on Booking.com compared to last year*
● Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Seminyak and Tokyo - perennial Singaporean escapes high among most wish-listed destinations by Singaporeans during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
● Hotels most wish-listed type of property for Singaporeans, higher than the global average
Travel might be on pause in these unprecedented times, but data from Booking.com reveals that this hasn’t stopped people across the country from dreaming about its possibilities. Delving into the millions of travel wish lists created by hopeful travellers on its platform over the last two months, with properties wish-listed across over 100,000 different destinations since the start of March, Booking.com shares the top destinations and properties travellers are dreaming of as they wait for when the time is right to travel again.
Singapore as a destination is high on some travellers’ minds during this pandemic as it appears within the top 10 most wish-listed destinations by travellers from Japan, India and Hong Kong, along with New Zealand, Thailand and Indonesia. Overall, Singapore was one of the top 30 out of 1000 globally most wish-listed destinations, with London, Saint Petersburg and Paris topping the list.
When it comes to international adventures featuring most heavily in Singaporean travel dreams since March, include perennial Singapore favourites with food and shopping havens taking centre stage. Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru top the list, followed by Bangkok, Seminyak, and Tokyo while Taipei, London and Osaka also appear strongly top of mind.
Similarly, when looking at countries featuring most prominently across wish lists, Singaporean imaginations are clearly gravitating towards Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.
Dreaming about a change in scenery and the opportunity to enjoy a stay experience outside of their own home, the most wish-listed types of places to stay for Singaporeans are hotels, apartments, resorts and villas. Hotels account for 57% of all properties wish listed by Singaporeans over the last two months, noticeably higher than the global average of 40%.
With that in mind, Singaporeans have dreamed of staying at these local properties — five of the top wish-listed places to stay in Singapore include Lloyd’s Inn, YOTEL Singapore Orchard Road, The Outpost Hotel Sentosa by Far East Hospitality, KēSa House and Ascott Raffles Place Singapore.
Vikas Bhola, Regional Director South Asia at Booking.com, said: “These are unprecedented and challenging times in which safety remains the top priority. We also know that in such times, dreaming about experiencing the world again has immense power to fire our imaginations and keep spirits high. It’s amazing to see the array of different travel experiences our Singaporean customers have been busy dreaming about while they wait for the opportunity to travel again. Building a wish list on Booking.com is an inspirational way for everyone to start dreaming about travel again, and we are committed to making it easy for them to turn those dreams into reality when the time is right.”
*Methodology: based on comparing wish list data on Booking.com between March and April 2020 to the same months in 2019. Customers on Booking.com can wish list properties by clicking the ‘heart’ button present on every property’s listing on the platform.