M'sians prefer holiday destinations closer to home

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 22): Four out of five favourite holiday destinations for Malaysian travellers are Asian cities, according to Hotels.com's latest Hotel Price Index (HPI).

The most popular holiday spot for Malaysians was once again Singapore, followed by Hong Kong, Bangkok and Seoul. The South Korean capital made a huge leap this year, up six places from the number ten spot the previous year, thanks to the influence of K-pop culture, according to the statement, which was released on Tuesday.

The Malaysian love for cultural activities and shopping also led to popular Chinese cities like Beijing (No 6 in the list) and Guangzhou (No 10) surfacing on the list.

Due to the recent disasters in Japan, Tokyo — which was previously the third favourite destination — dropped out of the top 10. However, the Land of The Rising Sun had not lost its appeal, with a recent Hotels.com worldwide survey revealing that 86% of respondents said they would consider a trip to Japan within the next year.

London (No 5) and Paris (No 7) were the only two non-Asian destinations in the list. Australian cities Melbourne and Sydney were observed to have moved further down the list, following the straightening of the Australian dollar.

The latest HPI was for January to June 2011, with the HPI for January to December 2010 used for comparison.

Hotels.com, an operating company of Expedia Inc, provides reservation services for hotel rooms and other places to stay. Its Hotel Price Index, a regular survey of hotel prices in major destinations across the world, is based on bookings made on Hotels.com.