Airbnb in its Q2 latest travel recovery data revealed Malaysians are planning overseas trips with renewed enthusiasm with destinations both near and far ranked among the top searched overseas destinations. Among the top overseas destinations are Great Britain, Thailand, Australia, Switzerland and France.
Malaysians were also seen expanding their travel horizons and looking to explore new overseas destinations. The short-stay rental platform saw an increase of more than 180 percent in interest for stays in Saudi Arabia amongst Malaysian guests in Q2 2022 up from Q2 2019, and a more than 150 percent increase in searches for stays in Turkey during the same period. Other trending overseas destinations include Egypt (up 120 percent) and Mexico (up 80 percent).
Closer to home, Thailand, Australia, Indonesia and Singapore were the top most searched destinations in the Asia Pacific’
Notably, interest to travel domestically remains undimmed as Malaysia takes the top spot as the #1 most searched destination amongst Malaysian. Across the country, domestic destinations most searched for by Malaysians this Q2 2022 were Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Petaling Jaya, Malacca and Georgetown.
Malaysians are also travelling to destinations closer to nature, with Lenggong (up 679 percent) in Perak and Kuala Kubu Bharu (up 628 percent) in Selangor as two of the top trending cities.
Amanpreet Bajaj, Airbnb’s General Manager for Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, said: “As travel resumes around the world, we are seeing a surge in interest among Malaysian travellers to venture abroad once more. While local getaways and popular travel hotspots remain top of mind, it’s incredibly exciting to see a post-pandemic spike in new destinations amongst Malaysian travellers. This growing appetite to travel both domestically and internationally is a positive sign as tourism recovery gathers pace.”
