BLOG POST

The online path to purchase for Asia-Pacific travellers

Our custom research explores the online path to purchase for Asia-Pacific travellers to uncover actionable insights for your business.

author
Michael Dykes

To provide partners with actionable insights on how to reach, inspire and convert travellers during the online travel shopping journey, we worked with Luth Research on a custom study that explores the online path to purchase and traveller behaviour insights across seven geographic markets. The research was conducted using digital tracking data from a panel of 70,000+ travellers and survey data from more than 5,700 respondents.

 

We’ve shared key global findings and now we’re doing a deeper dive into travellers from Asia-Pacific (APAC) based on digital tracking data from a panel of more than 17,800 travellers and survey data from more than 1,640 respondents across Australia and Japan. Read on for more APAC travel insights to help you reach and convert APAC travellers throughout the online travel purchase journey.


Planning window and trip length varies


When looking at the time spent for trip planning and overall trip length, Australian and Japanese travellers have notable differences. Australian travellers take trips lasting 11.1 days on average, compared to 3.4 days for Japanese travellers—both deviating from the global average of 8.8 days.* 

 

Japanese travellers have a short planning window at 45 days and book just 45 days before starting a trip. At 73 days, Australian travellers have a significantly longer planning window compared to Japanese travellers, and they book 91 days prior to starting a trip—longer than the 73-day global average.

Adjust targeting based on regional differences


Since Japanese and Australian travellers plan and travel in different ways, make sure that you adjust your strategies for connecting with these travellers accordingly. Leverage insights on when travellers are searching and booking to better target travellers in these regions.


Japanese travellers consume more content than average


Content continues to play a starring role in the path to purchase, indicating the importance of using compelling copy and visuals across property listings, ads, social media and more. 

 

In the 45 days prior to booking a trip, travellers from APAC view 149 pages of travel content (compared to 141 pages, on average) and spend 298 minutes with travel content. Japanese travel content consumption is higher than the global average, with Japanese travellers viewing 208 pages and spending 398 minutes with travel content. This makes Japanese travellers some of the highest consumers of travel content, despite their shorter planning windows. On the other hand, Australians consume less travel content than average, viewing 91 pages of travel content and spending 229 minutes with travel content in the 45 days before booking.   

 

While APAC travellers visit many online resources throughout the travel research process, online travel agencies (OTAs) are a particularly popular resource—especially for Japanese travellers, as 90% of them visited an OTA during their path to purchase. 

Reach travellers through OTAs


APAC travellers turn to OTAs to be inspired, plan and research options, even if they ultimately book elsewhere. Since OTA usage in APAC is high, make sure that your brand is showing up on our platform, which brings together millions of properties, billions of bookable airline seats and thousands of hire cars, cruises and activities to help you attract more travellers.

Japanese travelers view 208 pages of travel content in the 45 days prior to booking a trip.

APAC travellers are open to destination inspiration


Early in the path to purchase, destination flexibility in Australian travellers is higher compared to their Japanese counterparts. Before selecting where to go on their trip, more than half (56%) of Australian travellers did not have a specific place in mind or considered multiple options, indicating that they are open to destination inspiration. 

 

However, Japanese travellers are more determined on where to go, as only 38% were undecided on a destination. While many Japanese travellers have their mind set on a particular place, this does not mean they aren’t open to inspiration, as 76% of those who used social media for travel planning said they used it for destination inspiration.

Reach travellers that are open to destination inspiration


There are numerous opportunities to get in front of travellers and influence booking decisions while they are determining where to go. Leveraging visual-led creative advertising solutions or native advertising can help your business stand out from the competition and elevate your content with travellers throughout their travel shopping journey.


Advertising is impactful for Japanese travellers


Marketing plays an important role throughout the path to purchase, from inspiration to booking. On average, 19% of travellers from APAC said that advertising influenced their booking decisions, on par with the global average. However, in Japan, travellers are even more likely to be influenced by brand storytelling, as 26% of Japanese travellers said they were influenced by marketing when booking a trip.


26%

of Japanese travellers were influenced by advertising when booking a trip.



When asked about impactful advertising, 55% of APAC travellers—and as many as 59% of travellers from Japan—said that ads with beautiful imagery were influential. Content highlighting promotions or deals is influential for 35% of APAC travellers, which is notably lower than the global average of 46%.

Leverage eye-catching imagery in your advertising


When promoting your offerings to travellers from APAC, consider leading with engaging imagery or content spotlighting beautiful locales or interesting experiences. Our TravelAds Sponsored Listings increase visibility for your property and enable you to use custom professional photography and copy to appeal to travellers and their interests—capture their attention with a photo of your sparkling infinity pool or draw them in with information about the great year-round weather and proximity to top attractions.  


Loyalty plays an influential role


Membership and perks are another driving factor that influences travellers’ booking decisions. Approximately half of Australian travellers are members of a loyalty programme, and of those travellers, 73% feel it’s important to book with a brand where they are a member. Additionally, 51% would pay more to book with a brand where they are a loyalty member. 

 

Similarly, 73% of Japanese loyalty programme members also find it important to book with brands they’re affiliated with and 65% would pay more to do so. However, only 25% of Japanese travellers are loyalty members, revealing a strong opportunity for growth in this region.

Promote loyalty offerings


To appeal to travellers looking to maximise their loyalty benefits when booking, promote your loyalty rewards in your content and channels—and offer exclusive discounts, perks and points for loyal travellers wherever they are booking. With our One Key rewards programme, you can increase demand from high-value travellers by giving them the flexibility to earn and use rewards spanning various trip types across Expedia®, Hotels.com® and Vrbo®.  

For more APAC travel insights, download the country snapshots for Australia and Japan, and read the full Path to Purchase study for more global findings.

Offer One Key members the ability to earn and use rewards when booking with you.

Research and insights

Download Asia-Pacific country snapshots

Download the Australia and Japan country snapshots to learn more about the online shopping journey for Asia-Pacific travellers, and read the full Path to Purchase report for additional global insights.



Keep up to date

Sign up to let us know whether you’d like to be notified about future blog content.

Michael Dykes, Vice President, Market Management APAC

Michael Dykes

Vice President, Market Management APAC

 

Michael has lived and worked in Asia for over 20 years, currently leading the team who manages Expedia Group’s lodging inventory across Asia-Pacific. In this role, he works with lodging supply partners to maximise their success and potential on the Expedia Group platform and stay ahead of digital innovation. Prior to joining Expedia Group in 2015, Michael worked at Microsoft Japan as a Director of Corporate Accounts.



Was this page helpful?

Tell us how we did so we can improve our site.