FOR years, travelling abroad has been an escapism and tool to avoid relationship dry spells. Unfortunately, that has come to an abrupt halt with COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Klook, a world-leading travel and leisure platform coins the “The Wanderlost Syndrome”, as a collection of wanderlust withdrawal signs experienced by individuals due to lack of travel.
To unpack this, Klook commissioned a study with YouGov across 15,323 individuals across 13 markets in the Asia Pacific region.
In Malaysia, a total of 1,117 individuals participated in the survey, unveiling the five main wanderlust symptoms that are impacting them.
Torn between visiting family and escaping from them
Almost 90% of the local respondents are unhappy about not being able to reunite with their families this year, making Malaysia the second top-ranking market after the Philippines (89%).
On the flip side, 60% of the local respondents also admit that they are keen to escape from their family to skip gatherings and potential nosy questions from their relatives.
Romantic dry spells
Many in the region are keen to travel to find romance. Due to international travel restrictions, more than half of the local respondents, 55% of them feel that their dating pool has been affected as they now have a lesser chance to meet and date new people.
Across all markets except for Taiwan and Vietnam, 65% of the single males tend to be unhappier about being unable to make new friends and date different people, compared to their female counterparts of 56%.
Alarmingly, higher unhappiness is seen among those married with children, with about six in 10 of the total respondents feeling unhappy. This is especially felt in markets such as Hong Kong (87%) and Malaysia (84%).
Destressing from work is now tougher
In a recent report, titled “Cities with the Best Work-Life Balance 2020”, Kuala Lumpur ranked as one of the top five overworked cities when using the index of 19 factors determining the work-life balance of 50 cities worldwide.
Klook’s survey results share similar sentiments, as Malaysia is ranked number one in comparison to the rest of the 13 markets with 85% of respondents stressing that without the ability to travel further this year, they are unable to unplug from work completely.
Harder to create happy memories with friends, family while travelling abroad
In comparison to the rest of the 13 Asia Pacific markets, Malaysia ranks the highest in this category with 92% of local respondents view travel as one of the most crucial ways to create happy memories with friends and family.
Millennial singles also tend to be more unhappy about the situation than any other age group.
Frustrated staying at home and unable to travel
While there are many entertainment options, 79% of the local respondents have expressed that they are tired of watching yet another TV show or YouTube video instead of travelling.
Klook Malaysia marketing lead, Emily Tan, said the survey has shown that Malaysians still have a huge desire to reconnect, explore and enjoy themselves through travel, hence they need to think out of the box.
One idea, Tan said was to have a staycation or a unique dining experience leveraging on Klook’s value-added offerings to rediscover the city with loved ones and keep the fire for travel alive.
In addition, Klook has recently launched its E-Gift Card and “Start 2021 Right” sale.
It will also be offering “Buy One, Free One” flash deals running from Dec 24 to Dec 31 for the following activities – Aquaria KLCC , Glamz Genting , Breakout Escape Room Experience in Kuala Lumpur and Hauntu Immersive Experience in The LINC Kuala Lumpur .
For details, log on to https://bit.ly/klookmythingstodo – Dec 20, 2020
