Dubai emerges as top searched destination for Singapore a year on: Booking.com data
It's been nearly one full year since much of the world declared a moratorium on travel – closing borders, ordering local and regional lockdowns, cancelling flights, and docking cruise ships. Amidst all this, our innate human desire to travel has only intensified. Following digital travel leader Booking.com’s Future of Travel research, the majority of travellers in Singapore said they’re excited about travelling again (63%), with a greater number (76%) sharing they’re especially appreciative of travel and wouldn’t take it for granted moving forward.
As travellers in Singapore start to search for leisure activities and hotels again, Booking.com dug through all their recent searches to discover what’s changed, and share new insights on trending destinations in the past year. And you’d be surprised by some of the results.
Top searched overseas destinations in 2021 for Singapore (in order), include:
1. | Dubai, United Arab Emirates (#16 in 2020) |
2. | Bangkok, Thailand (#1 in 2020) |
3. | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (#3 in 2020) |
4. | Johor Bahru, Malaysia (#2 in 2020) |
5. | Manila, Philippines (#5 in 2020) |
6. | Tokyo, Japan (#4 in 2020) |
7. | Hong Kong (#26 in 2020) |
(February searches compared year-on year: 1 to 28 February 2021 vs 3 February to 1 March 2020) | |
While the rankings are influenced by international responses to the virus, potential air travel bubbles and how quickly restrictions are lifted, it proves Singapore travellers’ appetite for intra-region travel continues to stay - with 6 out of 7 destinations belonging to the Asia Pacific region. Last year’s top 5 searched destinations also remain top of mind for travellers this year, with only two new entrants Dubai and Hong Kong rising 15 and 21 places respectively to enter the top 7.