How travel businesses can capitalise on revenge travel

AFTER being cooped up for 2 years and having our wings severely clipped, the global pandemic has amplified our wanderlust. With improving vaccination rates and opening borders, a travel-deprived frustration is responsible for many beginning to book both local getaways and those long-awaited international dream holidays.

The desire to go on that once-in-a-lifetime trip is driven by the extended period of lockdowns. As a result, the term "revenge travel" is gaining momentum, and analysts predict that leisure travel is set to resurge as people regain confidence in flying and travel. While people are testing negative for Covid-19, they remain positive about long-term travel plans with more countries reopening or relaxing border restrictions to travellers.

Rakuten Advertising's Asia-Pacific travel network data from the end of 2021 highlights the increased appetite for travel, with more than double year-on-year click growth, and a 125 per cent increase since 2019 (pre-pandemic). Combined with data from TripAdvisor's Seasonal Travel Index, which found that over three-quarters of Singaporean travellers had already begun planning their year-end vacations, travel revival is well underway.