Malaysians flocking overseas with Airbnb as travel continues to open up

• The top-searched overseas country destinations by Malaysians on Airbnb this 2Q2022 were: 1 Great Britain, 2 Thailand, 3 Australia, 4 Switzerland, 5 France.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 3): Malaysians are planning overseas trips “with renewed enthusiasm” on Airbnb as more countries fully welcome international visitors.

According to a media release by the company, the top-searched overseas country destinations by Malaysians on Airbnb this 2Q2022 were: 1 Great Britain, 2 Thailand, 3 Australia, 4 Switzerland, 5 France.

Airbnb also noted that Malaysians are looking to explore new overseas destinations -- seeing an increase of more than 180% in interest for stays in Saudi Arabia amongst Malaysian guests in 2Q2022 up from 2Q2019, and a more than 150% increase in searches for stays in Turkey during the same period. Other trending overseas destinations include Egypt (up 120%) and Mexico (up 80%).

Thailand, Australia, Indonesia and Singapore were the top most searched destinations in the Asia Pacific by Malaysian guests on Airbnb over 2Q.

Meanwhile, domestic travel “remains undimmed as Malaysia takes the top spot as the No 1 most searched destination amongst Malaysians on Airbnb”.

Domestic destinations most searched for by Malaysians over 2Q were Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Petaling Jaya, Melaka and Georgetown.

Malaysians are also opting for “destinations closer to nature”, with Lenggong (up 679%) in Perak and Kuala Kubu Baru (up 628%) in Selangor as two of the top trending cities amongst Malaysians on Airbnb.

“As travel resumes around the world, we are seeing a surge in interest among Malaysian travellers to venture abroad once more,” said Amanpreet Bajaj, Airbnb’s general manager for Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan.  

“While local getaways and popular travel hotspots remain top of mind, it’s incredibly exciting to see a post-pandemic spike in new destinations amongst Malaysian travellers. This growing appetite to travel both domestically and internationally is a positive sign as tourism recovery gathers pace,” he added.