Travel optimism returns as more holiday-makers shrug off economic uncertainty concerns
Singapore, 06 September 2010
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Latest research from Visa and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) shows optimism is returning among travelers as fewer people worry about the affect of economic uncertainty on their travel plans.
Compared with last year’s survey[1], 16 percent fewer respondents in the Visa and PATA Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 2010[2]said economic uncertainty would affect their travel plans over the next 12 months.
In 2009, 64 percent of respondents said they would postpone their trip, travel domestically or look to less expensive destinations as they worried about how they would be affected by economic uncertainty. This year, only 48 percent of the respondents surveyed felt the same.
This optimism to resume travel was felt most strongly in Japan. Last year’s survey saw 78 percent of Japanese respondents changing their travel plans due to economic uncertainty. This year that sentiment has dropped to only 45 percent.
Other Key Findings
- Travel Frequency: In a further boost to the Asia Pacific tourism industry, the survey also found that people intended to take at least four international trips and three domestic trips over the next 24 months.
- Mainland Chinese are Most Frequent Travelers: In line with PATA projections that China will be the single largest source of outbound tourism in the Asia Pacific region by 2012[3], respondents from Mainland China indicated the strongest appetite for travel – both international and domestic. In the next two years, they plan to travel on average at least seven times. Singaporean respondents were the next most frequent travelers with at least six trips planned over the next two years.
- Domestic Holidays Most Popular with Mainland Chinese: Those in Asia Pacific planning the highest number of domestic holidays were from Mainland China (average of close to five trips over the next two years), followed by respondents from Malaysia, New Zealand and India (average of four trips over the next two years).
- Travel Spend Up: Overall, survey respondents were planning to spend slightly more on their next overseas trip (up US$116 to US$1,644 on average per trip).
Quotes
Ross Jackson, Head of Cross-Border Business, Asia Pacific, Visa
- One of the things we knew from last year’s survey was that travel plans were being scaled back or postponed. This year, the improvement in consumer optimism is sure to be welcome news for all tourism operators as they look to attract people keen to see more of the Asia Pacific region.”
To download the full news release, click here.
| [1] | Commissioned by Visa and PATA, the Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 'Determining Travel Preferences in 2009 and Beyond' was an online survey conducted by Synovate from 7 to 28 August 2008. The survey asked 5,554 respondents from 11 key Asia Pacific travel source markets (Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, France, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States) about past and future travel plans. For each market, respondents were internet users, aged 18 years or above, had traveled for holidays in the past two years or have the intention to do so in 2009 or 2010. Changes were made to market representation between the 2009 and 2010 Travel Intentions survey: In 2010, France was taken out and had greater Asia Pacific market coverage with countries such as New Zealand, Malaysia and Thailand.
| | [2] | Commissioned by Visa and PATA, the 2010 Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey ‘was an online survey conducted by Nielson in May 2010. The survey asked 6,714 respondents from 13 key Asia Pacific travel source markets (Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mainland China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States) about past and future travel plans. For each market, respondents were internet users, aged 18 years or above, had traveled internationally for holidays in the past two years or have the intention to do so in the next two years.
| | [3] | PATA: Asia Pacific Tourism Forecasts 2010 -2012 |
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