Outbound travel will continue to boom in Asia in spite of rising interest rates, higher oil prices and persisting economic uncertainties
MasterCard International today announced the results of its MasterIndex of Travel report, forecasting more than 67.5 million outbound travelers from Asia/Pacific and over 1.6 million from Thailand in the first half of 2006.
Besides a six month forecast of outbound travel for 12 markets (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand), the MasterIndex of Travel also comprises a survey of business and personal travel trends among the urban middle class across13 markets (with Vietnam included since 2004).
Thais (75%), Singaporeans (64%) and respondents from Hong Kong (61%) continue to top the list of personal travelers in the past 12 months, as they have for the past 3 surveys while markets with the highest percentage of respondents traveling for business remain fairly consistent, with Thailand (35%) heading the list followed by Singapore and Indonesia (32% each).
According to Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic advisor to MasterCard International in Asia/Pacific “Thailand has long been a premium travel destination of Asia, But it is also set to become a major source of outbound travelers."
Dr Hedrick-Wong observed that "The rapidly expanding middle-class will continue to fuel outbound travel growth while Thailand's economic integration both within ASEAN and in Asia will boost business travel."
Released twice a year, the survey report shows that intra-regional travel remains popular with both personal and business travelers. Personal travelers named destinations in Asia/Pacific (84%) as their top choice for travel, above destinations in Europe (34%) and North America (26%). Similarly for business travelers, destinations in the Asia/Pacific (86%) emerged as being the most frequented, compared to destinations in Europe (13%) and North America (11%).
Forecast on Outbound Travel for the First Half of 2006:
- 3.6% year-on-year growth
- 1.61 million outbound travelers forecasted for the next six months
Survey on Personal Travel
- Key sources of information used by travelers in planning their trips were word of mouth (35%), followed by the Internet (31%) and travel agents (22%).
- Top concerns for travelers when traveling to a foreign destination were security and safety issues (64%), followed by language barriers (19%) and fear of flying (17%).
- The main activities travelers engaged in when traveling were general sightseeing (54%), shopping (45%) and visiting historical sites/museums/art centers (39%).
- Most preferred shopping items for travelers when abroad included local apparel and personal effects (60%), souvenirs/antiques/arts and crafts (51%) and luxury items/jewelries/ branded goods (20%).
- The favorite personal travel destination for Thai travelers was Europe (36%).
Survey on Business Travel
- 34% of business travelers said that over the last 12 months, there was the need to travel more compared to the previous period.
- Europe (24%) was the most frequently visited destination, followed by China (21%) and Singapore (21%).
- Majority of business travelers (39%) used a travel arrangement company engaged by their company when making business travel arrangements.
- Thai Airways (69%) was the most preferred airline for business travel followed by Singapore Airlines (15%).
- International four-star hotels (39%) were most preferred for business travel, followed by international five-star or higher end hotels (27%) and three-star/medium priced hotels (21%).
The full report, which details the individual market forecasts, can be found at the website www.mastercard-masterindex.com
About MasterCard International
MasterCard International is a leading global payments solutions company that provides a broad variety of innovative services in support of our global members’ credit, deposit access, electronic cash, business-to-business and related payment programs. MasterCard, through its principal operating subsidiary, MasterCard International Incorporated, manages a family of well-known, widely accepted payment card brands including MasterCard?, Maestro? and Cirrus? and serves financial institutions, consumers and businesses in over 210 countries and territories. The MasterCard award-winning Priceless? advertising campaign is now seen in 105 countries and in 48 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope. For more information go to www.mastercardinternational.com .
Contacts
Eileen Wee, MasterCard International (662) 2670 4088
[email protected]
Elizabeth Wongwasin 124 Communications (662) 662-2266
[email protected]