Flight searches on Expedia double prior to new vaccinated travel framework

Stockholm, Perth, and Zurich saw a significant growth in travel demand.

Singaporeans travel interest doubled in the last three days before the government announced that it will allow the entry of all fully-vaccinated travellers on 1 April, online travel portal, Expedia, said. 

In a company statement, Expedia said its outbound searches, with destinations like Stockholm, Sweden (+270%), Perth, Australia (+50%), and Zurich, Switzerland (+50%) had significant growth in travel demand and top trending destinations amongst Singapore travellers in the last seven days.

Expedia sees inbound travel demand to rise with the US, the UK, and Australia remaining as the top three inbound markets quarter-on-quarter in its travel platform because of relaxed border measures such as scrapping on-arrival testing and vaccinated travel pass for general inbound to Singapore.

Lavinia Rajaram, Expedia Group’s Asia head of public relations, said relaxing border rules for both inbound and outbound travellers will uplift the travel and tourism sector, which are hardest hit by the travel restrictions during the pandemic.

Rajaram also noted that demand for international travel increased significantly due to the establishment of vaccinated travel lanes (VTL).

“The removal of on-arrival testing, application of the VTP [vaccinated travel pass] and the VTL flight requirements are impactful milestones that will improve the traveller experience and instil confidence among our travellers,” she said.