65% travel professionals expect APAC travel business to surge 78%: Expedia
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According to the report, India and Australia report the highest confidence in demand growth at 82% and 76% respectively. Looking ahead, travel professionals predict India will see the strongest outbound growth over the next two to three years, followed by Japan. For inbound travel, India and Hong Kong SAR are expected to lead regional growth.
Expedia Group has released its new research, Mapping the Future of APAC Travel, showing that 65% of travel professionals expect demand for their Asia-Pacific (APAC) travel business to increase over the next two to three years, rising to 78% among loyalty professionals.
Based on a survey of 1,250 travel professionals across Australia, China, India, Japan, and Thailand, the research points to strong growth potential across the APAC region — alongside increasing complexity as traveller expectations evolve and technology reshapes the booking journey.
Growth is expected across a wide range of travel segments. Over 60% of professionals anticipate increases in luxury leisure travel, budget leisure travel, bleisure trips, and intra-APAC regional travel.
India and Australia report the highest confidence in demand growth at 82% and 76% respectively. Looking ahead, travel professionals predict India will see the strongest outbound growth over the next two to three years, followed by Japan. For inbound travel, India and Hong Kong SAR are expected to lead regional growth.
As demand rises, traveller expectations are becoming more complex and localised. 60% of travel professionals report that local and diverse payment options have increased in importance in recent years, while more than 70% say options such as buy now, pay later, global cards, and loyalty redemption are now essential parts of the booking experience.
At the same time, 59% report growing importance for booking through AI-powered tools or non-traditional platforms, highlighting the accelerating shift toward more dynamic, tech-enabled travel planning.
Many travel businesses still face structural challenges. 33% cite a lack of localised content as a major issue, 34% point to discoverability challenges across search and AI-driven platforms, and 35% say legacy systems and integration challenges are slowing adoption of new capabilities. While AI adoption is accelerating, 79% of professionals say they are already using it and 97% plan to in the future, indicating that many organisations are still working to unlock its full potential.
As APAC travel providers look ahead, the focus is shifting from demand recovery to sustained, scalable growth.
“APAC is one of the fastest growing but most complex travel markets in the world,” said Aileen Chan, VP of Sales, APAC, Expedia Group. “While demand is clearly increasing, our research shows that complexity across payments, content, and technology remains a major barrier. The opportunity lies in helping partners simplify that experience and scale with confidence.”
