Expedia reveals tips about the best places to go and how to save on your 2019 year-end holiday trip

Christmas is just around the corner and travellers around the world are ramping up on preparations to make that final trip of the year for the year-end festive season. For last-minute planners, there’s still a window of hope for you to make a travel booking that could give you savings of up to 30% on selected hotels.

Expedia’s data for travel between 15 December 2019 and 14 January 2020 shows the following:

Top 6 Cooler Destinations for Singaporean Travellers

1. Tokyo (Japan)
2. London (United Kingdom)
3. Seoul (South Korea)
4. Paris (France)
5. Barcelona (Spain)
6. Los Angeles (United States of America)

Top 5 Year-end Destinations for Singapore Travellers

1. Tokyo (Japan)
2. London (United Kingdom)
3. Seoul (South Korea)
4. Taipei (Taiwan)
5. Bangkok (Thailand)

Top 10 Fastest-Growing Year-end Destinations

1. London (United Kingdom) – 157%
2. Paris (France) – 126%
3. Osaka (Japan) – 118%
4. Hanoi (Vietnam) – 107%
5. Phuket (Thailand) – 102%
6. Hobart (Australia) – 100%
7. Melbourne (Australia) – 75%
8. Barcelona (Spain) – 72%
9. Guangzhou (China) 71%
10. Los Angeles (United States of America) – 67%

5 Alternative Year-End Destinations with Cheaper Flight and Hotel Prices

1. Vancouver (Canada) – Flights up to 20% cheaper, hotels up to 29% cheaper
2. Shanghai (China) – Flights up to 26% cheaper, hotels up to 9% cheaper
3. New York (United States of America) – Flights up to 28% cheaper, hotels up to 6% cheaper
4. Los Angeles (United States of America) – Flights up to 17% cheaper, hotels up to 7% cheaper
5. Paris (France) – Flights up to 7% cheaper, hotels up to 15% cheaper

Best and Worst Times to Book Flights and Hotels

1. 61 – 90 days – Worst period to book flights
2. 7 to 13 days – Best period to book flights, up to 30% savings
3. Over 91 days – Worst period to book hotels
4. 0 – 6 days – Best period to book hotels, up to 30% savings

5 Destinations for Travellers on a Budget

1. Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) – flights from S$185, hotels from S$137/night
2. Yangon (Myanmar) – flight from S$299, hotels from S$121/night
3. Hanoi (Vietnam) – flight from S$312, hotels from S$119/night
4. Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) – flights from $265, hotels from S$143/night
5. Bangkok (Thailand) – flights from S$309, hotels from S$173/night

Prices indicated are based on average ticket prices for standalone flight and hotels, subjected to terms and conditions.

Travel Hacks to Help You Get More Value Out of Your Trip

1. Set up price alerts and favourite the hotels you like. If you log in to your Expedia account, your recent searches and any hotels marked as your “favourite” will automatically be saved in “My Trips” so you can come back and track price changes.
2. Work the Rewards. If you haven’t already done so, make sure you’re signed up for travel loyalty programmes. Plus, book your travel on the Expedia Mobile App and get double the rewards points.
3. Save by bundling your flight with a hotel. Whether you book your flight and hotel at the same time on Expedia or come back to add a hotel booking later, you’ll still save by bundling your flight and hotel. On average, travellers save up to 12% on package bookings.
4. Prepare your travel documents. Don’t get left behind because you don’t have the necessary documents on hand to leave the country. Remember to check the expiry date of your passport to ensure that you still have at more than six months validity ahead of your travel dates.
5. Mark your calendars for major sales. There are so many ways to save on Expedia before and during the holidays. Our epic Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales held from 29 November to 2 December will have hundreds of deals on flights, hotels, activities and more.

The information shown above was drawn from Expedia flight and accommodation data for travel between 15 December 2019 and 14 January 2020.