LONDON - Global travel marketplace Skyscanner is publishing a new report exploring the latest trends in global travel. Titled Skyscanner Horizons: Destination & Booking Insights Q1 2023, the report unpacks and explores extensive flight search and booking data from each region – the Americas, APAC and EMEA – to provide a unique view of how travellers are thinking about travel over the next six months.

Analysis of key indicators including booking windows segmented by haul type and trending destinations provides unrivalled insights for any business within the travel ecosystem.

The report also features exclusive expert commentary on these trends from industry thought leaders such as Mike Ferguson from Skyscanner, Centre for Aviation’s Marco Navarria, and Nick Hall of Digital Tourism Think Tank.

Globally, we’re seeing more travellers come to Skyscanner than ever before. It’s indicative of both the sector’s continued recovery and the exceptional travel demand across all regions.

Destinations, particularly in APAC, are benefitting from increased search volumes compared to last year and, at the same time, long-haul booking windows are lengthening. Long-haul international travel has been slower to recover than other segments, but 2023 looks set to change that. Mike Ferguson, Director of Destination Marketing at Skyscanner

Skyscanner’s important Horizons report once again reaffirms the industry results CAPA has seen within the Aviation industry. The report has highlighted that the majority of trending destinations for summer travel are in Asia Pacific.

CAPA data shows that Asia Pacific airlines posted a +376.3% increase in Jan-2023 international traffic compared to Jan-2022, by far the strongest year-over-year rate among all the world’s regions, but off a very low base. Capacity rose 167.1% and the load factor increased 36.6 percentage points to 83.3%, the highest among the regions. Marco Navarria, Global Content and Marketing Director at CAPA

The resurgence of long-haul travel globally is a key opportunity for destinations to seize, competing to win over high-value travellers undeterred by a challenging economic climate. Nick Hall, CEO of Digital Tourism Think Tank

Key report findings for each region include:

GLOBAL

  • The majority of trending destinations for Q2 and Q3 travel are in APAC, with Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan benefitting
  • +90 day booking windows for long haul travel are up across all regions signalling both traveller confidence and demand, with search share moving in line with pre-pandemic seasonal norms

EMEA

  • EMEA travellers looking ahead to summer as longer booking windows increase for both short and long haul travel
  • All booking windows are tracking close to 2019 search behaviour as trip planning normalises
  • EMEA travellers are eager to return to destinations in Asia with Taiwan, Japan and Laos seeing surging search demand compared to 2022. Destinations such as Saudi Arabia and China see high demand in the short term, with Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam also trending throughout Q2 and Q3
  • Albania, the only trending European destination in the top 10, sees increased search demand year-on-year

AMER

  • AMER travellers looking ahead as longer booking windows, particularly 60-89 days, increase for all haul types
  • Fluctuations in short haul booking windows vs 2019, while long haul returns to pre-pandemic norms
  • AMER travellers are eager to return to destinations in Asia as the regions sees surging search demand compared to 2022. Other long-haul destinations such as Morocco, New Zealand and Norway are also trending throughout Q2 and Q3
  • Bucket list destination Fiji also sees increased year-on-year search demand particularly in July and August

APAC

  • Long haul travel top of mind for APAC travellers as booking windows increase in all segments from <1 week to +90 days
  • APAC booking windows some way off returning to 2019 patterns across all haul types
  • Taiwan, Laos and Japan are trending destinations for APAC travellers, with significant increases in search volumes compared to 2022
  • APAC travellers also looking for inspiration with ‘Everywhere’ a top trending search term, whilst European destinations Austria and Hungary see rising year-on-year search demand
  • Japan, Thailand and Vietnam make up over two thirds of trending search volumes in Q2 and Q3

Visitors to Skyscanner are now surpassing 2019 levels, with more than 100m+ travellers accessing the company’s app, desktop and mweb platforms every month.

To view the report online or download a PDF copy, visit https://reports.skyscanner.net/.

Report methodology: analysis of Skyscanner Travel Insight search and redirect data, based on Q1 2023 activity for travel in Q2 and Q3 2023 with selected comparisons to the equivalent pre-pandemic period (2019). Year-on-year comparisons for trending destinations are based on the same 2023 parameters and the equivalent search and travel period in 2022. Analysis conducted between 10-16th April 2023.

About Skyscanner Partners

Skyscanner is a global leader in travel connecting over 100m users in 180 countries and 30+ languages to more than 1200 flight, hotel and car hire partners every month.

Skyscanner's global audience provides unrivalled reach into geographies and deep insight into traveller search and redirect behaviour in almost every market. Skyscanner's app, desktop and mweb metasearch platforms offer next generation, best-in-class brand and performance capabilities to deliver on partners' strategic priorities. Skyscanner is using the latest technology to build dynamic distribution and advertising solutions to connect businesses with highly qualified audiences, using real-time, actionable intelligence.

Founded in Edinburgh in 2003, Skyscanner has offices worldwide, in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. Skyscanner is committed to helping shape a more responsible future for travel in collaboration with our partners, so that every traveller can explore our world effortlessly for generations to come.

For more information visit: https://www.partners.skyscanner.net/.

Skyscanner Limited. Registered in England & Wales (Company No. 04217916). Registered Office: Level 5, Ilona Rose House, Manette Street, London W1D 4AL. Skyscanner Private Limited. Registered in Singapore (Registration No. 201317279D). Registered Office: 30 Raffles Place, #28-02, 30 Raffles Place, Singapore 048622.

Matt Bradford
Senior Communications Manager
+44 785 066 5563
Skyscanner Ltd