The Pent-Up Travel is Just Getting Started in Southeast Asia

The lifting of travel restrictions across Southeast Asia has resulted in the conversion of pent-up demand into actual demand. People are given the opportunity to act, and they do so quickly. Travelers are feeling safer about traveling more freely since governments have removed restrictions.

Singapore is one of the best examples of this. When Singapore declared on March 24 that it would open its doors to vaccinated visitors from all over the world on April 1, Google reported a 107 percent increase in search queries for the destination just three days later.

According to Google's research, Australia is leading the comeback, followed by the Philippines and Indonesia. Other Southeast Asia countries are seeing robust outbound and inbound travel returns, which translates to more regional traffic and travel, as well as a higher desire to travel large distances.