Taiwan’s pandemic response made it 2020’s most popular travel destination, followed by Thailand and Japan, as tourists search for Covid-safe holidays
Would-be travellers across Asia, the US, UK and Australia are Googling Covid-19-safe travel getaways, and Taiwan’s successful pandemic prevention makes it the most popular destination, with Taipei, Hualien and Yilan top of Agoda’s enquiry list
As the Covid-19 pandemic has been brought under control in some Asian countries, and social distancing measures are slowly relaxed, the long-repressed travel itch is for many now growing ever more insistent.
High up on the list of relatively lightly affected global destinations, Taiwan has emerged as the most-popular searched destination for travel until year-end, followed by Thailand and Japan, according to search data revealed by Agoda.
The Singapore-headquartered digital travel platform said the data was from 11 markets including Australia, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, the United States and Vietnam.
Taiwan topped the travel escape searches list among all different traveller groups, from solo travellers to couples, families or groups, beating last year’s champion – from what now seems an utterly different time – Thailand.
Thailand was the second-most-searched destination, ahead of Japan, with Vietnam and South Korea rounding out the top five.
The United States, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia completed the top 10 in that order.
Beyond the top spot, Agoda’s search data showed distinctions between types of traveller, with Japan and Thailand taking second and third in that order for solo travellers, while more family travellers searched for travel deals in Thailand ahead of Vietnam.
For groups, Vietnam just stole into second spot ahead of Thailand and this traveller category also searched for a more diverse range of destinations, including the Philippines and Israel, which did not feature in the top 10 for all travellers.