Yogyakarta beats Bali as Lebaran Destination

Wego Infographic on Lebaran Destinations (dok)

JAKARTA (IndoTelko)  - Wego, the leading travel search site in the Asia Pacific and Middle East  released insights into Indonesian travel trends for Lebaran, 2015.

“Indonesians searched more domestic trips this year for Lebaran, and in significant numbers. Domestic travel trends more than tripled; the huge increases driven by Wego’s highly popular Flights & Hotels app available in both iOS and Android," said Graham Hills, Managing Director of Wego Indonesia.

“Yogyakarta took over from last year’s top destination Bandung for hotel searches, featuring as one of the most notable movers this year, increasing 78 percent over 2014,” Hills explained. “Bali featured as  the number one domestic destination for the past two years, however this year fell to fourth place, with flight searches to Yogyakarta escalating by 342 percent.”

Indonesians sought higher star properties, while taking advantage of cheaper airfares.

“In 2014 more than half of Wego’s Indonesian users sought 3 star accommodation, but in 2015 we’ve seen a shift towards higher rated hotels. Domestic airfare searches rallied in mid-June, and while average hotel rates seemed to trend a little higher closer to Lebaran, the average airfares were around ten per cent lower this year,” Hills continued.

Travellers took full advantage of Wego’s ability to display the lowest airfares available online and discover more great value domestic airfares, and more frequently through their smartphone.

Internationally, Singapore remained the top choice for flights, with some recovery evident for Thailand and China, as Bangkok, Hong Kong and Beijing rank in the top five international destinations, having dropped by 20 per cent in 2014.

“For domestic flights, the top five ranked airlines remained the same, however each almost tripled in volume compared to last 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," Hills observed

Hills suggest  for airlines and hotels to grow their direct business through aggressive digital strategies, to meet market demand at this time and throughout the year.(es)