Trip.com And Google To Launch Travel Trends Report

Trip.com Group, the Shanghai-based provider of travel services, has joined Google to launch a travel trends report, the company announced Tuesday (June 23).

The “Trip.com Group x Google Travel Trends Report” was created to predict trends and forecast the next Top 20 destinations, the company said.

It will be written based on a variety of indicators, including data from Trip.com and an analysis of statistics from Google Trends, the website that analyzes the popularity of top global queries in Google Search.

“With the onset of the pandemic the entire world is facing an unprecedented level of uncertainty,”  Google China Head of Industry Wilson Wu said in a statement. “The normal dynamics of the travel business have been completed up-ended, and this is definitely not an easy time for many of us. But even in the middle of this global crisis, there are opportunities to bounce back and innovate towards the new normal.”

A pilot edition based on the Asia-Pacific region with business insights data from Trip.com Group was produced. The report provides a glimpse into how consumers are reacting to the evolving dynamics in travel and trends for the industry for the next few months.

As travel restrictions are being eased, the inaugural report revealed, interest in travel, specifically short trips, is rising. Among customers in the Asia-Pacific region considering travel, 30 percent said they want to take a trip within the next 90 days while more than 70 percent of searches prefer a short trip.

The data identified the Top 20 short-haul destinations including Bangkok, Seoul, Shanghai, Jeju-do, Tokyo, Bali, Manila, Busan, Xi’an, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Penang, Da Nang, Bintan, Taipei, Singapore, Pattaya, Hong Kong, Phuket and Macau.

Not surprisingly, customers identified flexibility as their most important consideration, with 57 percent citing no-fee cancellation policies as the most attractive feature when booking travel. In addition to flexibility, 27 percent of customers identified advance booking discounts as a key motivator for booking travel, while 25 percent preferred insurance coverage.

The report comes as travel restrictions are being lifted in numerous markets.

“Now is the time to capture recovery demand,” said Wu. “Travel providers must respond with products and services that allow flexibility.”

Still, a recent survey by PYMNTS found interest in travel has its limits. Less than half,  44 percent, of respondents who want to resume their daily activities want to travel domestically. Only 18 percent of consumers find international travel appealing.