MORE Indonesians are showing a keener interest in domestic trips during Lebaran 2015, with Yogyakarta taking over last year’s top destination Bandung for hotel searches, revealed travel search site Wego.
Searches for hotels in Yogyakarta rose 78 per cent over 2014 and flight searches to the city escalated by 342 per cent, said Graham Hills, managing director of Wego Indonesia.
“Bali featured as the number one domestic destination for the past two years, however it fell to fourth place this year,” he added.
While more than half of Wego’s Indonesian users sought three-star accommodation in 2014, the site witnessed a shift towards higher rated hotels this year.
Internationally, Singapore remained the top choice for flights, with Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong trailing behind. Although Beijing placed fifth, flight searches to the city soared over 300 per cent this year.
“International flights also enjoyed higher volumes, the most notable change is Garuda Indonesia stepping up to second place from fifth last year, and Malaysia Airlines disappearing from the top five altogether,” said Hills.
“As OTAs are a dominant recipient of Wego’s business, such significant escalation in travel planning highlights further opportunities for airlines and hotels to grow their direct business through aggressive digital strategies, to meet market demand at this time and throughout the year,” he added.
