A significant spike in search activity for travel to Singapore originating from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan has been recorded through the last two weeks of March 2021 (1-14 March), compared to the first two weeks of the month (15-28 March).This increase, as detected across ADARA’s data consortiums, coincides with public announcements of plans to restore travel between these countries and Singapore.
Fig. 1: Change in Market Share by Origin Country (Travel Searches to Singapore) Previous Period: 1-14 March 2021 | Current Period: 15-28 March 2021
The most significant travel search increase was detected from Australia, which was the first country to announce talks on a potential bilateral travel bubble with Singapore (around 15 March). In the two weeks following the news, travel searches from Australia to Singapore saw a 34% increase in market share, compared to the volume of all searches to Singapore across the same period.
Across 15-28 March, travel searches and bookings from Australia to Singapore also increased, compared to the previous window (1-14 March):
Searches:
- Number of searches from Australia to Singapore increased by 32.4%
- Total number of global searches to Singapore decreased by 2.1%
Bookings:
- Number of bookings from Australia to Singapore increased by 2.9%
- Total number of global bookings to Singapore increased by 2.3%
ADARA data also revealed a notable shift in travel searches and bookings from Singapore to Australia from 15-28 March, compared to 1-14 March:
Searches:
- Number of searches from Singapore to Australia increased by 28.3%
- Total number of global searches to Australia decreased by 8.1%
Bookings:
- Number of bookings from Singapore to Australia increased by 9.2%
- Total number of global bookings to Australia decreased by 7.2%
Across other countries that have also initiated discussions around travel bubble arrangements with Singapore, increases in travel searches have likewise been detected for the same window of time. For example, travel searches from Malaysia and Indonesia to Singapore both experienced a 19% increase in market share, while that of Taiwan to Singapore saw a 14% increase.
Beyond countries that have ongoing discussions around bilateral travel arrangements, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates have also seen an increase in market share of global travel searches to Singapore at 26% and 19% respectively.
The positive growth in travel searches originating from these source markets to Singapore is a preliminary indicator of pent-up demand for international travel. As arrangements solidify and more announcements materialise in the coming weeks and months, there remains more potential for intra-regional travel to gradually rebound, as pent-up travel demand accumulated across much of 2020 and the start of 2021 is released in waves.
