Now that everyone’s returning from their Lunar New Year travels, let’s take a look back at all the destinations Asia was searching for over the past year. The map below shows the top destinations searched on Google in a few Asian countries. Perhaps surprising for a country that is so far away from its nearest neighbors, Australia’s searches (in red) cast the widest radius across the world: its top travel destination was Disneyland (the nearest one being Hong Kong’s, 7,000 km away), and the second was Dubai, a staggering 12,000 km distance from Sydney. Tourists in China, on the other hand, like to stay close to home, with domestic travel spots like Hangzhou and Jiuzhaigou taking top billing. India stands out as the only country whose users searched for a U.S. city: Boston, home of MIT and Harvard.



Why does this matter? It’s a reminder that often the first step on a journey is taken online and that paying attention to those first steps in Asia is important. Asia will drive most of the growth of the tourism industry over the next 15 years.

Posted by Joyce Hau, Communications Senior Associate, Google APAC