(TAN): Tokyo, Bangkok and Taipei are the top three destinations for travellers from across Asia to celebrate the Lunar New Year 2020, according to data from Agoda, the global digital travel platform.
This year, Tokyo nudged Bangkok off pole position, steadily climbing the ranks from third place in 2018 to the top spot, while Taipei moves to third place.
Taiwan is a key destination this year, with four of the market’s cities featuring in the top ten, Taipei (#3), Taichung (#4), Kaohsiung (#6) and Tainan (#9). Other favourite destinations to welcome the Lunar New Year include Seoul (#7) and Chiang Mai (#10).
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Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival, sees the biggest global migration as trevellers across the globe visit family and friends. Japan, Malaysia and Thailand secured top overall destinations for Asian travellers, to bring in the Lunar New Year — each offering their own unique blend of mouth-watering eats, cultural experiences and shopping havens for every member in the family to enjoy.
Japan is the number one country for travellers from Thailand this Spring Festival, with eight of the top 10 cities in Japan. Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo are the top international destination cities for Chinese travellers.
Japanese travellers are heading to more tropical destinations like Thailand’s Bangkok, Pattaya and Chiang Mai that secured 1st, 3rd and 9th spots respectively while Singapore, Cebu and Honolulu come in 7th, 8th and 10th. Meanwhile Seoul moves up from 4th in 2019 to 2nd spot for this Lunar year.
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South Korean travelers are also heading for beach destinations to celebrate ‘Seollal’ with top ten entries including Nha Trang (#3), Da Nang (#4), (in Vietnam), Cebu (#6) (in Philippines), Guam (#8) (in Micronesia) and Bali (#10) (in Indonesia).
Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand are the main beneficiaries from Singapore travelers this Lunar New Year, while travellers from Taiwan are flocking to Japan. Vietnamese travellers are heading to cosmopolitan cities like Bangkok (#1), Singapore (#2), Taipei (#3) to celebrate.
Malaysian travelers heading for international shores are choosing neighbouring Thailand for five of its top destination cities (Hat Yai, #1; Bangkok, #2; Krabi, #3; Phuket, #4; and Koh Lip, #10). Thailand, Japan and Indonesia continue to be hot favourites among Malaysians for the past three years.
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This is also the first year that Tokyo enters the top three, after a steady rise from eighth place in 2018 and fifth place in 2019. Being at the heart of Southeast Asia, Malaysia attracts many tourists from the region during the Lunar New Year — making it the second-most visited country among Asians in 2020.
