Over 500 travelers surveyed in breakthrough Asian adaption of HomeAway's global 'Science of Memories' study.
SINGAPORE – Does being glued to your phone make your holiday less memorable? Not at all! For Asian travelers, snapping selfies and using their devices to look up restaurants and attractions, greatly contributes to a more memorable trip (78% and 77% respectively), according to a study released by the world leader in vacation rentals, HomeAway.
HomeAway Asia brought the global “HomeAway Science of Memories” study into this region with research agency partner Kadence, to find out how the behavior of travelers across Singapore, Japan, Korea and Hong Kong impacted their vacation memories.
“Everyone knows that going on a vacation makes for great lifetime memories. But nobody has ever delved into truly understanding what makes our Asian travelers tick and remember their holidays longer,” said Prashant Kirtane, Vice President HomeAway Asia. “HomeAway is committed to learning as much as possible about our travelers and to better identify how we can help make their vacation memories even more memorable.”
“Let’s face it—we can’t vacation every day, which is why we need great memories to keep us connected to those who matter most,” said John Kim, president of HomeAway. “Every vacation is an opportunity to create great memories with the people you love. With this research, we wanted to answer the question, ‘What can we do to help our travelers make their vacations even more memorable?”
HomeAway’s whole vacation concept offers whole houses with ample space to bring family and friends on a trip together. With its large inventory across the region, HomeAway also allows travelers to venture to dream properties in international destinations. These were only two of the many factors which were identified to make a trip more memorable, according to the study conducted in Asia.
SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS
Go ahead, use your phone but not for work!
- The study found that trips are actually more memorable when smartphones are used for holiday related activities
- Eight out of ten people who used smartphones to take selfies or look up restaurants and other activities during their holidays found them to be more memorable!
Bring your family AND your friends to create lasting vacation memories
- Traveling with a mix of family and friends ranked highest in terms of memorability (83%) compared to those who traveled with just family, just friends, in a couple or alone
Traveling on a budget? That’s not a bad thing!
- Surprisingly, the cost of a vacation did not have any effects on its memorability, regardless of whether travelers spent $100 or $5,000
Capture and share those holiday memories and you won’t forget them
- During their holidays, people who created a physical photo album, scrapbook or photo book (46%) found their holiday very memorable, followed by people who kept a journal (45%)
- During their holidays, people who blogged about the trip (88%) found their holiday memorable or very memorable, followed by people who sent postcards or letters (86%)
Get excited!
- People who reported feeling happy or excited before their holiday, found it to be very memorable/memorable (81%), followed by people who were relaxed or calm (61%)
- People who have no strong emotions are more likely to only recall the general activities (52%)
Plan, plan, plan to get the most out of your trip (even once it’s over)!
- The longer time spent planning for the holiday through researching booking and itinerary planning, the more memorable the holiday is (0-5 hours 21%; 6-10 hours 23%; 11-20 hours 39%; 21-30 hours 38%; more than 30 hours 53%)
- People who planned their own trips said they remember everything in their holiday (30%), while more people with no role in planning only remember a few specific highlights (17%)
Through the more than one million online bookable vacation rentals listed on our sites, HomeAway provides the space and privacy for travelers to create memories with friends and family,” John Kim. “Thanks to the power of science, travelers now have another building block to help create unforgettable vacations.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
