As you may know, traveling to overseas is quite impossible for 2020. So, local tourism is expected to be a hit for Malaysia. But does it managed to trend. According to Google’s latest trend report “APAC State of Travel 2020 (Spotlight: Malaysia)”, it sure does show a positive light for local tourism. Now let’s find out the Malaysia search trend for when it comes to local tourism.
In the research report, it shows that Malaysians is starting to appreciate for local travel destinations & attractions. Google found that once the lockdown restriction eases in Malaysia, the was a spike for Malaysian users to search for hotels although it was for a short period.
So what did Malaysian users also search for their travel plan in 2020? Destinations. The top 5 destinations that has been searched the most is Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, George Town, Langkawi and Kuala Terengganu. Most of the destination located at peninsular region has most searched because of easy accessible by land transportations such as cars and buses. The data also shows that beach holidays remain the most popular option.
There are 3 criteria on what Malaysians want for their local travel attractions and activities. Firstly, the location need to have family-friendly attractions. Most Malaysian families usually will be traveling together hence they will find attractions and activities they can do as a family at their travel location. The second criteria is attractions and activities has to be outdoor where big open space makes it easier to practice for social distancing. The third criteria is the journey. Google also noticed destinations outside Klang Valley continue to trend. Places like Taiping Zoo, Genting Highlands, Zoo Negara, LEGOLAND Malaysia and Adventure Waterpark Desaru Coast.
With this data, Google also confirmed that Malaysian emerging preferences and themes shows 2x increase in search interest for holiday resorts compared to pre-COVID, +250% increase in searches for hotels with private pools, indicating demand for higher luxury and serenity, and 1 in 3 Malaysians citing family bonding trips as key purpose for their next leisure travel for the holiday season.
Thanks to the data provided by Google, hopefully Malaysia’s domestic tourism will continue to grow to cater with the local trends. What do you think on the trend report? Let me know in the comment. Now, I need to plan my own Cuti-cuti Malaysia with Google Travel as well.