Good news travellers! According to a new report, air fares to top destinations around the world are predicted to continue dropping throughout the remainder of the year.
Malaysians rejoice, as the routes with the most drop percentage wise in the world is from Malaysia to Australia. Another route originating from Malaysia comes in at No.9 – Malaysia to Thailand! Time to fly.
In a joint report prepared by Expedia and the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), number crunchers combed through the stats to come up with a few general travel trends and compile a list of the 10 best travel deals for 2015.
According to the report, average ticket prices for major destinations in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America are forecast to drop between 4 to 6 percent throughout the remainder of the year compared to average ticket prices in 2014.
Fluctuating currencies are also impacting travel plans around the world. The strength of the US dollar is driving travellers originating from North America to stay longer in Europe this year compared to 2014.
For example, length of stays showed a six percent spike in August 2015 compared to the same period last year. Likewise, travellers from North America headed to China are spending an average of 25 days abroad this August, lengthening their stay by five days from 2014.
The pattern works both ways, however, as the strengthening Chinese yuan is expected to increase the number of Chinese visitors to the US this year and lengthen their stays from 12 to 14% from August 2014 to August 2015.
Analysts also point out that the bundling trend could also help travellers save an average of up to US$648 (RM2,429).
That’s particularly true of London, where bundling flights and hotel rooms could add up to US$1,424 (RM5,338) in savings, or US$1,087 (RM4,075) in Maui and US$1,058 (RM3,966) in Paris.
With cheaper fares, destinations like Melbourne are good deals for Malaysians. Photo: Eureka Skydeck88
Meanwhile, here are the top 10 flight routes that showed the biggest year over year drops in air fare for 2015:
Malaysia to Australia 22%
Italy to Portugal 22%
Brazil to the United States 17%
Spain to Thailand 17%
Germany to Portugal 16%
Japan to France 16%
United States to Dubai 15%
Mexico to France 11%
Malaysia to Thailand 10%
Sweden to Spain 7%
– AFP Relaxnews