MANILA -- Filipinos are less optimistic about international travel this year amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, according to a hotel booking website.

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Agoda said there were no international destinations in the Top 30 searches of Filipino users on the platform from December 1 to 10 last year and from March 1 to 10 this year.

It noted that last September, bookings in eight overseas destinations were included in Filipinos' Top 30 searches.

Agoda said only domestic destinations are part of searches of users in the Philippines this year. These include places such as Batangas, Boracay, Manila, Cebu, and Subic.

The Philippine market is similar to travelers from Malaysia and Vietnam, who also have zero international destinations in their Top 30 searches in both December 2020 and March 2021.

In contrast, travelers from Australia, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia showed growing optimism, with more international destinations in their Top 30 searches in March 2021 compared to December 2020.

They are joining markets such as China, Taiwan, and Singapore, who have been looking forward to resume international travel, according to Agoda.

"Agoda's search data shows that travelers are looking to resume international travel, buoyed by the implementation of the vaccine rollout, but there is more to do," Agoda CEO John Brown said in a statement.

"The vaccine rollout in Asia is commencing, but the pace across the region will vary," he added.

Brown went on to call on governments to "innovate how they approach re-opening of their borders, balancing the very real need for the safety of their own citizens, and visitors alike, with the economic reality."

"For the foreseeable future, quarantine remains a stumbling block to international travel, so the provision of alternative state quarantine, as launched in Thailand and Hong Kong, might prove to be a sensible solution in line with a vaccine program," he said. "Corporate technology partners able to move fast, will be able to provide governments with support to manage the complex variables that markets face."

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