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Traveloka’s inaugural SEA Index maps a region trading up: from Phú Quốc to Krabi, Southeast Asia’s own beaches break out; travelers go deeper on stays and experiences; and China’s fast-rising second cities lead the outbound story.
SINGAPORE, Aug. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Traveloka today released the inaugural edition of the Traveloka SEA Index, a quarterly read on how the region actually travels, built entirely on the platform’s own first-party booking and search data across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Q2 2026 debut points to a Southeast Asian traveler who is not simply traveling more, but traveling better: venturing further afield, staying longer, and channeling spend into richer experiences on the ground.
The Traveloka SEA Index examines how Southeast Asia actually travels each quarter, read straight from Traveloka’s own search and booking data across five markets.
Southeast Asia’s own coastline was the region’s quiet powerhouse this quarter, as it flocked to Vietnam’s islands, Thailand’s beaches and Malaysia’s shores. Outbound demand stayed strong, led by East Asia and China’s second cities.
Quick peek: where is each market going
From | Highest-demand domestic destination (Demand Score) | Highest-demand international destination (Demand Score) |
Indonesia | Malang (90) | Seoul (99) |
Malaysia | Kuala Terengganu (76) | Krabi (100) |
Singapore | Singapore (20)* | Fukuoka (100) |
Thailand | Nakhon Phanom (92) | Seoul (100) |
Vietnam | Phú Quốc (100) | Tokyo (96) |
Demand Score (0–100) ranks each destination’s year-on-year booking growth within its market; 100 is the fastest-growing. *In Singapore, the only domestic option is a local staycation.
About the Traveloka SEA Index
The Traveloka SEA Index is a quarterly, retrospective barometer of Southeast Asian travel, drawn entirely from Traveloka’s first-party data across the region’s five largest markets. Rather than forecasting what travelers might do, it reports what they actually did, scoring every destination with a Demand Score (0–100) that ranks how fast its bookings grew against every other destination in that market. It is designed to give the travel industry, its partners and the traveling public a clear, comparable and genuinely data-led picture of how the region moves, one quarter at a time.
“The first Traveloka SEA Index reveals a Southeast Asian traveler who is more confident and more curious than ever, willing to go further, stay longer, and invest in the experiences that make a trip memorable, and increasingly to find them on the region’s own coastline,” said Umang Choudhary, VP of Product, Accommodation, Traveloka. “We created the Index to share that story with the industry and the public every quarter, grounded not in surveys or forecasts, but in what travelers across the region actually chose to do.”
Key Findings
1. Southeast Asia’s own coastline is a breakout star
The quarter’s powerhouse was the region’s own beaches. In Vietnam, a homegrown coastal sweep put Phú Quốc (Demand 100, bookings +86% year-on-year), Con Dao, Hoi An and Da Nang at the top of the momentum table, with Da Nang’s flagship Ba Na Hills attraction up 132%. Thailand’s Krabi was Malaysia’s fastest-growing destination, booking at roughly five times last year’s pace; Malaysia’s east-coast gateway of Kuala Terengganu, the springboard for Redang and the Perhentian Islands, more than doubled year-on-year; and Bali matured into a longer, do-it-proper holiday, with Malaysian bookings doubling and stays lengthening. Southeast Asia is not only sending travelers out; its own coast is pulling them in.
2. Travelers are going deeper, not just further
Across markets, the Index shows longer, richer trips rather than simply more of them. Malaysian travelers stretched their Bali stays from 2.3 to 2.7 nights and traveled in larger, family-sized groups; Da Nang drew the region’s biggest travel parties at 2.23 people per booking; and Vietnamese stays in Bangkok lengthened from 3.2 to 3.6 nights. Where travelers took fewer or shorter flights, they redirected that spend into accommodation and experiences. A quarter defined by making each trip count.
3. East Asia is the biggest draw abroad, and four cities won everywhere
Among outbound destinations, four grew faster than their market average in all five Southeast Asian source markets: Osaka, Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei. They were the only destinations to do so, and every one is in East Asia. It remains the region’s strongest outbound pull, even as the freshest energy sits one rung down.
4. China’s second cities are the breakout obsession
Beyond the headline names, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Kunming and Chongqing grew at roughly two to four times the market’s pace across multiple source markets, the fastest-rising cluster on the Index. The momentum is underpinned by expanding access: mutual visa-free arrangements between China and Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and China’s unilateral visa-waiver program, extended through end-2026.
5. Wildcard: Qingdao
Each edition of the Index closes with one surprising anomaly. This quarter it is Qingdao, a Chinese coastal city whose combined bookings from four Southeast Asian markets rose roughly nine-fold year-on-year, off a small but unmistakable base. The likely trigger is a rapid expansion of direct flights linking Qingdao to Southeast Asia, including new services to Ho Chi Minh City and Penang in early 2026.
How each country traveled, in one line
Indonesia: The quarter of the value-led holiday, as culture-rich second cities such as Yogyakarta, Bandung and Malang surge and travelers trade up on experiences.
Malaysia: Nearly half of all trips now cross a border; Bali is maturing into a longer, do-it-properly family holiday, and Krabi is booking at around five times last year’s pace.
Singapore: Traveling further and spending more, with East Asia, from Fukuoka and Jeju to Chengdu, leading the momentum.
Thailand: Coastal favorites are surging, led by Pattaya, while travelers also invest in bigger journeys abroad to Seoul and Tokyo.
Vietnam: A homegrown beach boom, with Phú Quốc, Da Nang, Hoi An and Con Dao sweeping the momentum table.
Read the full index here.
About Traveloka
Traveloka is Southeast Asia’s leading all-in-one travel platform, bringing flights, hotels, activities, travel insurance, and eSIM together in a single app. Founded in 2012, Traveloka now operates across Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. With over 140 million app downloads, Traveloka was named Best Travel App at the Sensor Tower APAC Awards. With access to over 2 million hotels worldwide and 24/7 live chat support, Traveloka’s mission is to make travel more accessible and enjoyable for everyone across the region and beyond.
