Celebrations around the world are already underway for the Chinese New Year, which begins on 28 January, and it seems that there is no stopping Singapore travellers from going overseas. Reports said Genting Highlands, Jakarta and London are the top emerging destinations for travellers this year.
A report stating the findings by hotel booking site Hotels.com showed that Genting Highlands, which is located in Malaysia's Pahang state, was the fastest-growing searched location for travel in between Jan 27 and Feb 1 in 2017. The searches for the hill resort have seen a 256 percent increase on year-on-year basis.
After Malaysia, the second most searched destination was Indonesia's capital Jakarta. The searches reflected a 142 per cent growth year-on-year basis, which is followed by London at 113 percent.
But according to a report by The Straits Times, it appears that some travel agencies have seen a dip in bookings of up to 15 percent for the festive period. The agencies have witnessed a weak consumer sentiment with an earlier-than-usual Chinese New Year close on the heels of the year-end holidays.
However, regional destinations have been boosting the travel trends for upcoming new year holidays. Both Dynasty Travel and travel search engine Kayak was experiencing more demand for regional destinations.
During that same period, Singapore travellers were also seen booking for destinations that are closer to their homes such as Bangkok, Batam and Kuala Lumpur. Last year, the top three searched locations were Hong Kong, Bangkok and Taipei.
