Agoda: Family and friends group travel back on the cards

A suite at Ramada Suites Wyndham Kuala Lumpur. Travellers from Indonesia (42%), Malaysia (39%), and Taiwan (38%) prefer vacation rentals with more facilities such as kitchens or separate living and sleeping areas (pic Source: Ramada Suites Wyndham)

Survey shows M’sians are the top 3 most likely travellers to plan 2 or more family holidays in 2023

by HAZATUL SYIMA HARON

LAST year was a bumper year for global travel volumes as the reopening of borders saw a recovery in the number of travellers.

Malaysians took the time to travel especially domestically, as evident from the number of cars on the highways and trunk roads every long weekend or every festive celebration, even on normal weekends. This year may surpass 2022’s numbers as the world continues to recover from the pandemic and on hope for a resolution to the Ukrainian conflict.

According to digital travel platform Agoda, four out of five travellers will take a vacation with their immediate family in the next 12 months. While travelling with friends proves to be more popular than travelling with extended family, its Family Travel Trend Survey 2022 revealed more than half (52%) are keen to catch up with relatives for their vacation.

The survey was conducted in partnership with YouGov, polling over 10,000 travellers from across Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea and the US. Conducted on July 8-16, 2022, all the respondents were aged 18 and above.

Agoda regional VP, South-East Asia, Oceania and India, Enric Casals said the more the merrier for holidays seems to be the message across South-East Asia, India and beyond this year, as Asia finally reopens for travel.

“The Agoda Family Travel Survey shows people really want to enjoy the company of friends or extended family on their vacations, with more than 80% of travellers planning to travel with immediate family and 52% opting to travel with other relatives too.”

Travellers from Singapore (61%), Taiwan (61%) and Vietnam (59%) are most likely to take at least one trip with immediate family. People from the Philip- pines (47%), Indonesia (40%) and Malaysia (35%) are most likely to plan two or more family jaunts in the coming year.

When it comes to vacationing with extended family, it is travellers from Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam that take the top three spots, with those from Japan, Korea and Singapore least likely to take the whole family along.

Australian travellers rank only ninth most likely to take a trip with friends this year, knocked off the top spot by travellers from the Philippines, followed by Vietnam and India.

Value Hunters

When it comes to travelling with families or in a group, travellers worldwide seek more value for their trips with budget hotels, Agoda Homes vacation rentals and all-inclusive resorts cited as the top three group travel preferences.

Casals said family travellers often have more complex requirements when choosing accommodation.

“Often, they need more space, perhaps with cooking facilities as offered by Agoda Homes, or services such as babysitting, kids clubs, extra beds or interconnecting rooms offered by family-friendly hotels.

“Being able to search on one platform, like Agoda, for accommodation, flights, ground transportation and fun-filled activities at the destination takes away a lot of the hassle of travel planning, meaning there is more time to relax and enjoy spending time with loved ones.”

For budget-friendly hotels, these are preferred by travellers from Philippines (59%), India (44%) and South Korea (38%), while those from Indonesia (42%), Malaysia (39%), and Taiwan (38%) preferred vacation rentals with more facilities such as kitchens or separate living and sleeping areas.

This is in contrast to Japanese travellers (43%), who favoured chain hotels as their accommodation of choice, and Thai tourists (34%), who leaned towards the convenience of all-inclusive resorts.

New Covid Wave A Concern

Despite more and more people wanting to travel in 2023, 77% of travellers globally indicated some concerns about international borders closing again while they are overseas. This is due to pessimism over the fact that Covid seems to continue to take its toll on various nations’s health and finances.

China, for example, is reopening its borders on Saturday (Jan 8), despite an increasing number of countries imposing new controls on Chinese travellers due to the current outbreak in the country and the risks of new variants.

Travellers from most recently- opened markets including South Korea and Japan are most concerned, in comparison to those from markets that quickly removed border restrictions including US, Australia and India.

Domestically, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last Wednesday said the government plans to tighten border control for foreigners entering Malaysia, in order to curb imported Covid-19 cases from countries with higher infection rates.

He said existing controls by immigration on entry of foreigners will be tightened further, and it is not targeting any specific nation. “All nationalities, especially from countries with higher infection, be it the US or China, we will monitor.”