(From left to right: Grace Qi, Head of Global Partnerships and Distribution - Attractions & Tours, Trip.com Group; Edmund Ong, Senior Regional Director, Southeast Asia and General Manager, Singapore, Trip.com; Sunny Sun, CEO, Trip.Gourmet and Vice President, Trip.com Group; Ru Yi, Assistant Vice President of International Markets (APAC), Trip.com Group)

(Singapore, 2 December 2025)  Trip.com Group, a leading global travel service provider headquartered in Shanghai with executive offices in Singapore, has revealed groundbreaking insights into Southeast Asian travel patterns at the Trip.Best Southeast Asia Travel Trends Unpacked event, held in partnership with Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore. The data highlights a dramatic shift in the region's preferences, with China’s emerging cities taking the lead, families prioritising connection during their travels, and a surge in influencer-driven travel discovery.

Drawing on millions of data points from Trip.Best Global Rankings visitorship, Trip.com searches and views for the year starting 23 July 2024 and ending 22 July 2025, the findings revealed how traveller preferences are evolving across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, underscoring the need to make use of data-driven insights and innovation to enhance the travel booking and management experience.  

“Our data tells us that the continued popularity of China as a travel destination, social-led discovery and immersive family travel will define Southeast Asia’s outbound travel patterns in 2026 and beyond. These trends reflect a desire for deeper engagement – richer culture, stronger storytelling and more curated experiences – for the region’s travellers. By continually enhancing the Trip.Best Global Rankings, we aim to provide clarity, simplicity and trusted recommendations to make travel more enjoyable at every stage of the journey,” said Edmund Ong, Senior Regional Director, Southeast Asia and General Manager, Singapore at Trip.com.

China Leads as the Top Outbound Destination for Southeast Asia’s Travellers
Across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, China leads the pack as the top outbound destination for SEA travellers by volume of bookings made through Trip.com, followed by Japan. The popularity of Chinese destinations among the region’s travellers is also evident in Trip.Best Global Rankings data, where its cities occupy six of the top 10 spots – with Shanghai topping the list as the most popular city for outbound travel with a near four-fold year-on-year (YoY) growth in number of views on Trip.Best.

Table 1. Destination popularity on Trip.Best Global Rankings, ranked by number of views tracked from 23 July 2024 to 22 July 2025

Beyond Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, Tier 2 cities in China such as Chengdu and Chongqing are also rising in popularity. Chongqing stood out as the fastest-emerging outbound destination, with the number of views on Trip.Best growing more than four-fold YoY (+359%) across SEA. 

“Southeast Asian travellers are responding particularly well to cities that blend modernity with local character and a strong sense of heritage – a trend aligned with China’s broader push towards building liveable, event-driven and culturally expressive urban centres. With the growing interest in Chongqing as a destination among travellers from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, Trip.com is well-positioned to be the one-stop international travel platform that helps them to discover the best of the city in a way that best meet the needs of every traveller profile,” Ong added. 

Southeast Asia’s Families Prioritising More Immersive, Meaningful Travel Experiences
Another major trend that Trip.com Group uncovered is a clear shift in travel preference among families in the region. They are no longer simply travelling for leisure; instead, they see travel as a means to foster togetherness and deepen connections with their family members. As a result, many families are seeking activities that enable family bonding, such as shared learning, education, creativity, and adventure-focused experiences. For example, searches for “family activities” by Malaysia travellers grew by +35% year-on-year. 

In line with the desire to travel and bond with their family, SEA travellers are increasingly looking for family-friendly hotels to help meet their travel goals, and family-friendly hotels make up a significant share of all hotel-related views on the Trip.Best Global Rankings. According to Trip.com data, the share of views for family-friendly hotels is 9% in Singapore and 12% in Malaysia, compared with 8% in both Japan and Korea. 

Key Opinion Influencers Hold Outsized Influence on Traveller Decisions
Travel discovery across Southeast Asia has become overwhelmingly social-first, with travellers turning to KOL content that showcases real experiences and views – a trend fuelled by high social media penetration in the region, a figure that exceeds 60%. 78% of Southeast Asian consumers reported that KOL content influenced their flight choices, while 80% said it affected their accommodation choices. In Thailand, trips booked via KOL-specific promo codes and direct links on Trip.com saw a +120% increase in direct orders in 2025, with related keyword searches in-app growing by +65%. 

For travellers aged 18–35, KOL recommendations are also shaping hotel, attraction and restaurant choices, driving travellers to ‘viral’ spots – including themed hotels, immersive attractions, nightlife districts and food experiences. 

To streamline the social-first travel discovery and planning process, Trip.com introduced Trip.Moments, for travel lovers to come together to share their favourite travel experiences, gain inspiration and inspire others at the same time. Not only does this feature make it easier for travellers to discover destinations on the Trip.com platform, it also enables them to check out travel planning and booking options easily with a few simply taps within the Trip.com environment.

The Year of “Eat, Plan, Travel” for Singaporean Travellers
For Singaporeans, culinary experiences have become a primary motivator for travel, with Trip.Best data revealing that 70% of Singaporean travellers surveyed in 2025 ranked “Local Food & Dining Experiences” as a top 3 factor in choosing a destination.

In addition, restaurant rankings have the highest unique visitor (UV) penetration rate compared with hotels and attractions for Singapore travellers, suggesting that food content resonates most with Singapore users and drives the highest level of browsing intent (39%). Singaporeans also have a particular interest in local cuisines – “Local Flavour” lists on Trip.Best command the highest attention for Singapore users, accounting for 53% of viewership share.

Navigating the Future of Traveller Decision-Making
Trip.com’s latest findings underscore a fundamental shift in Southeast Asia’s travel behaviour: travellers are seeking authenticity, clarity, and memorable experiences, while navigating an environment defined by an overwhelming range of choices and rapidly changing trends. 

“More users are turning to Trip.Best, and we’re seeing that reflected in rising user satisfaction – our overall Net Promoter Score (NPS) shows a steady 40% increase year-on-year in Singapore and Malaysia,” said Sunny Sun, Vice President of Trip.com Group. “By harnessing technology and human insights, we’re bringing value to our users and simplifying decision-making. Our goal is to inspire and empower travellers with the confidence to plan and book trips based on reliable, trustworthy, and real-time recommendations.” 

By combining insights from trusted data, expert curation, and recommendations, the Trip.Best Global Rankings continue to simplify travel decision-making by streamlining choices using ranked lists built from real user orders, reviews, and behavioural signals. By providing travellers with a structured, reliable way to make the best travel decisions, Trip.Best helps travellers make the most of every trip.

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