Newly released data shows that tourists traveling to destinations in the Asia-Pacific Region, including Bali, are seeking more personalized and meaningful travel experiences.
Over the last five years, Bali has been working to encourage tourists to have more culturally immersive and meaningful travel experiences, and it appears the hard work is starting to pay off.
Bali has long been a destination synonymous with sand, sea, and sun, yet the island is also home to one of the world’s most unique cultures and most culturally generous communities.
Tourists traveling to Bali on vacation can easily stick to the comfort zone of a resort holiday, rarely leaving the confines of a hotel, opting for international menu options, and not engaging with the culture on any level.
Leaders in Bali have been keen to move away from this in new tourism development and province-wide tourism models, to ensure that tourism not only preserves the island’s heritage but also sustains and promotes the best of the island’s culture today.
Data from the online hotel booking platform booking.com shows that travelers planning trips to the Asia-Pacific region, including to top destinations like Bali, are seeking vacation homes over hotels, as well as opting for unique spaces and destinations. There is an increasing desire to be able to host friends and family on vacation with the freedom to dine and cook at ‘home’.
The Managing Director of Booking.com Asia Pacific, Laura Houldsworth, told reporters, “We are seeing a lot of searches across the region. Bali is a key destination, but almost every country is now seeing a lot of searches for this type of accommodation.”
She noted that there is a rise in the number of searches for holiday homes, but that there are regular influxes of searches for a range of different holiday home styles. This includes beachfront homes in top coastal destinations, traditional-style homes in Japan and South Korea, and wooden cottages in Vietnam and Thailand. Searches for private villas in mountainous areas and lakeside cabins, as well as luxury camping, are also on the rise; accommodation options that are easily available in areas like Kintamani and Bedugul in Bali.
Houldsworth told reporters, “Today travellers are seeking more personalised and meaningful experiences. Therefore, vacation homes are emerging as a key part of this growing trend.” The findings were based on a survey of more than 8,000 prospective travellers to the Asia Pacific region in July 2025. Top searched destinations included Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Houldsworth concluded, “These findings also empower property owners to better understand traveler preferences and plan for their guests’ needs, ultimately supporting the local economy.”
It is not only booking.com who are looking to support property owners to better serve tourists and the surrounding community, but Airbnb too. Over the last decade, Bali has had a love-hate relationship with Airbnb and private vacation rental villas.
On the one hand, soaring demand for these kinds of properties has enabled new businesses to emerge and encouraged more visitors to the island, bringing in more revenue.
On the other hand, rampant tourism development that has often fallen outside of regulation has led to the conversion of vast swathes of productive farm land, and is pressurising existing infrastructure and causing untold environmental damage.
In September 2025, Airbnb partnered with UNESCO to launch the “Bali Cultural Guidebook” to help support tourists during their travels and help them explore lesser-visited cultural destinations.
Airbnb has long championed and showcased the world’s best unique stays, and UNESCO is committed to preserving and conserving the world’s most important ecological and cultural landscapes.
The guidebook was designed to help travellers make better informed decisions to create meaningful travel experiences and for tourism business owners and workers to create meaningful experiences for tourists without compromising cultural values or commitments to sustainability
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