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STAYCATION and workcation are predicted to still be a holiday trend in 2022 amidst the life of the COVID-19 pandemic. Traveloka Chief Marketing Officer Shirley Lesmana said this trend was driven by people’s awareness to maintain mental health in the midst of various limitations.
“It turns out that this is one of the growing trends because public awareness of mental health is quite high,” Shirley said at an online press conference on Wednesday.
Staycation is an option to unwind in the midst of reduced opportunities for vacations to faraway places in order to minimize the risk of spreading the virus. Staycation is considered by the community as a way to take a break and refresh the mind, a necessity in the midst of a life full of activities.
Compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, staycation searches on search engines have now increased 10 times. Another trend that is predicted to continue to color 2022 is workcation, a combination of the words works and vacation, which means working in a vacation spot. This lifestyle is driven by various companies that implement more flexible work policies, not requiring employees to come to the office. Work can be done from anywhere as long as the tasks are completed. Policies like this are increasingly being practiced when the corona virus outbreak is present, where workers can work from anywhere without having to go to the office.
“This is a response from users to work in other places, such as in Bali, Bandung or Puncak, what is needed is a good (internet) connection and a comfortable workcation,” explained Shirley.
The need for consumers to find a comfortable staycation and workcation has resulted in Holiday Stays at Traveloka in the fourth quarter of 2021, where users can look for accommodation other than hotels, ranging from resorts, villas to glamping.
The staycation trend can also be seen in Singapore, one of the countries where Traveloka expanded its operations to Southeast Asian countries in 2015.
“Before the pandemic, overseas travel dominated. During the pandemic, staycations were popular. Last year, staycations were the prima donna when people needed refreshing,” explained Shirley.
Broadly speaking, the popular places that users are looking for in Southeast Asia are nature-based destinations such as mountains or beaches because people want to find entertainment after being confined to doing all the activities at home.
Since its founding in 2012 as a meta-search engine, Traveloka has transformed into an online travel agency, then a hotel booking application which is now equipped with various features including food ordering and gold investment. For a decade, Shirley assesses digital adoption has occurred very quickly in the last two years due to the pandemic. People inevitably have to adapt to the digital world.
“In 2020, after the pandemic, you can finally say that people have moved to digital, in 2021 the use will be more frequent and more widely used.”
When digital products have become part of everyday life, he said, another trend that has emerged is the desire to get various services in one application. [antaranews/photo special]
