Arival, the in-destination international conference organizer, recently announced six key trends in APAC in its The Outlook for Experiences 2019-2025 research.
Douglas Quinby, CEO and co-founder of Arival, said: “With many countries beginning to open travel after the pandemic, the Asia Pacific (APAC) region is seeing a surge of renewed interest in travel and tourism. APAC travelers are spending more, traveling further and for longer.”
The first key trend Arival points out is that the pace of recovery throughout APAC is still varied. While travel demand is coming back from Southeast Asia, South Korea and Australia, some markets, such as China or Japan, still see slower return.
Secondly, recovery of travel for long-haul destinations and Europe is not be far behind. Travelers in APAC have restarted regionally, but travel demand for long-haul destinations, especially Europe, will recover soon.
The third trend is the return of the outbound travel from China. Domestic travel in China has almost recovered to the pre-pandemic level, while outbound travel has still been slow to recover. The Arival research, however, says that operators in the region should prepare for China’s return in the second half of 2023, and the majority of Chinese travelers will still prefer to the top destinations of the pre-pandemic, but they tend to want quite different things in a destination.
The fourth trend is the APAC market will be led by young generations, like Generation Z or Millennials, who prefer local experiences to buying things. Arival also sows that they look for more memorable and immersive experiences by a smaller group travel, mobile booking opportunities and Instagram- and TikTok-worthy moments.
Arival points out as the fifth trend that mobile booking and online marketplaces will more than triple in market share by 2025. As the trend can be seen among young generations particularly, Arival says that operators should prepare for it.
The last trend is an increase in small groups or FIT. Arival says that young generations are especially look for more independent adventure and experiences. Small group tours, independent tours, outdoor adventure activities and other unique experiences will more attract their interests.
