Wotif.com, a leading accommodation website in Asia-Pacific, has announced the ten most popular Asian regions, based on its booking data for 2009. The tough economic climate and political turmoil were not able to knock Thailand from the top region position, which it has now held for three years running. It was followed in the top five by Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Regions in the top 10 remain mostly the same as last year, except for the Philippines which replaced Cambodia as the tenth position, and Vietnam and China, which switched positions to become sixth and seventh respectively.

Top Asian Regions (by bookings)
1. Thailand
6. Vietnam
2. Singapore
3. Hong Kong
4. Malaysia
5. Indonesia
7. China
8. Japan
9. Macau
10. Philippines

Sii Eawsakul, Wotif Group’s Executive General Manager for Asia, said, “Asia is large and diverse, with rich cultural and geographic variety while still remaining overall very competitively priced compared to the rest of the world. In times of economic trouble, Wotif.com’s great value accommodation options for the region become even more appealing to the global traveller.

“As such, despite the economic challenges of the past year, we’ve experienced strong growth and increased presence across the region, with bookings having increased for almost all our Asian countries. In particular, bookings for Indonesia more than doubled year on year. We’re very pleased with our progress and hope to continue this strong growth into 2010.”

Within these regions, city destinations were the most popular with Wotif.com bookers, with Singapore again taking the top spot, which it has held for the past three years. Bali, Phuket and Koh Samui are the only island destinations in the top ten list.

Top Asian Destinations
1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong
3. Bangkok
4. Bali
5. Kuala Lumpur
6. Phuket
7. Ho Chi Minh City
8. Koh Samui
9. Shanghai
10. Tokyo

Sii said, “Aside from their intrinsic appeal, the high ranking of city destinations reflects the growing presence of corporate travellers amongst Wotif.com’s customers. Recognising the convenience and savings that booking websites like ours offer, more business travellers are logging on to book their trips directly. Hence regional business hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai rank highly.

“As businesses continue to recover from the recent financial crisis, we expect corporate travel to pick up and these cities to remain popular destinations in 2010,” she added.