As the demand for travelers to Southeast Asia intensifies, Thailand stands out from the crowd as the most popular destination in the region.
New research by Insights-X, which analyzed more than 300,000 reservations on the TravelgateX platform, reveals that Thailand was the destination of choice for 47% of the reservations in Southeast Asia this year.
Indonesia, which accounts for 18% of 2019 reservations, is experiencing the fastest booking volume growth in the region.
Other top destinations in Southeast Asia this year include Myanmar (12%), Singapore (9%) and the Philippines (8%).
Bangkok, Bali and Penang are the cities in the region with the most demand this year.
Timing is everything
The 2019 Southeast Asia Travel Insights report also finds that, on average, travelers book their arrangements about two months in advance (64.3 days).
About 26% of travelers book at least 3 months in advance before heading to Southeast Asia.
By contrast, only 4% of reservations to the region are last-minute (less than 3 days before traveling).
Taking the lead as the early birds in 2019 are British travelers, who book their trips on average 115 days in advance, followed by Spanish travelers, who reserve 71 days in advance.
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Meanwhile, Chinese travelers book reservations less than one month in advance but make more group bookings (24.7%) than the average (19.2%).
The time of the year also plays a role in early bookings, with December being the month with the most advance notice (171 days on average) due to the Christmas holidays.
Conversely, March is the month with the least advance notice (45.9 days).
July and August are the months with the most travelers in Southeast Asia, accounting for 25% of bookings throughout the year.
The findings of this report by Insights-X were released in October 2019 to coincide with the ITB Asia trade show for the travel industry.