Visa monitors travel boom

SINGAPORE  Travellers from Asia-Pacific are filling up their passport pages at a faster rate than their global counterparts and are now leading the world in leisure travel, according to Visa’s Global Travel Intentions Study 2015.
The latest study showed that travellers from the Asia-Pacific region took more leisure trips in the past two years than any of the other regions surveyed, with more than eight in 10 (84%) having travelled solely for leisure, ahead of the global average of 76%.
In comparison, the Americas recorded 79% and Europe 81%.
The Study also found leisure travel to be most prevalent among the affluent (88%) and among 36 to 44 year olds (80%).
inside no 5On average, Asia-Pacific travellers who took part in the study made six international trips in the past two years, three of which were for leisure. In addition, according to the study findings, Asia-Pacific travellers are the most likely to mix business with leisure while overseas. 22% of Asia-Pacific travellers said their most recent trip was for business and leisure, ahead of the global average of 16%.
Visa Asia-Pacific, senior director of cross-border and channel marketing, Vivian Pan said: “Asia-Pacific is an extremely well-connected region, and going overseas for leisure travel holds a special appeal for Asia Pacific travellers as they are keen to explore new places and gain new international experiences. This love of international travel, coupled with rising disposable personal incomes, has led to travellers from this region driving the increased desire for more trips, leading to more travel spending.”
The Visa Global Travel Intentions Study 2015 was commissioned by Visa and conducted by Millward Brown, with 13,603 travellers, who had either travelled in the past two years or intended to travel in the two years for business/leisure. It covered 25 countries during a survey period of January and February 2015.
In the past two years, the global survey showed travellers from Singapore took the most leisure trips (95%), followed by Hong Kong (92%), South Korea (90%) and Malaysia (90%).
Future Travel Spend
Future spending on international leisure travel from Asia-Pacific travellers looks bright for the travel industry as well, with Asia-Pacific leading globally with the sharpest rise in terms of likelihood to spend more (71%), followed by the Americas (66%) and Europe (56%).
According to the study, respondents from Asia-Pacific indicated that their travel spend for their next trip is likely to average USD3,501.
Travellers from China, India and Australia are likely to be the top spenders from Asia-Pacific countries on their next trip, (USD4,501 each), which ranks them third globally behind travellers from the United States and Saudi Arabia (USD5,501 each).

sourced:ttrweekly.com