How nearly 50,000 travellers across Asia plan, research and book

Rakuten Insight surveyed 49,326 travellers — in local languages, on our proprietary consumer panel — for a clear read on how the region plans, researches and books travel in 2026.

The headline: there is no single “Asia.” Booking confidence, discovery channels and loyalty shift from market to market, and travellers are no longer tied to any one brand. A one-size-fits-all regional strategy no longer holds.

Produced with Rakuten Advertising, this is a high-level pulse across the full journey — from inspiration to booking — built to show where the region is heading.

What’s inside

• ■ Where each market sits — self-directed and deal-led versus trust- and recommendation-driven booking.
• ■ Search vs social — how Asia is splitting into search-first and social-first markets.
• ■ Deal-seeking as the norm — how mainstream affiliate-tool use has become.
• ■ The creator gap — why most creator-influenced travellers don’t book through the original link.
• ■ Loyalty as a transaction — what makes travellers switch brands.

Want to go deeper?

This pulse is a snapshot of what our panel can surface at a regional level. For granular insight into your own category, audience or markets, our team runs custom research across Asia-Pacific in local languages and at scale.

Download the report

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