Asia Pacific Travellers Taking More Trips, Spending More

Travellers from Asia Pacific are now leading the world in leisure travel, according to Visa’s Global Travel Intentions Study 2015.

The Visa Global Travel Intentions Study 2015 was commissioned by Visa and conducted by Millward Brown, with 13,603 travellers, aged 18 years and above across 25 countries and markets in January and February 2015. The travellers surveyed had either travelled in the past 24 months or intend to travel in the next 24 months for business/leisure, non-domestic travel only.

The study shows that travellers from the Asia Pacific region took more leisure trips in the past two years than any of the other countries surveyed, with more than 84% of those in the region having travelled solely for leisure in that time, well ahead of the global average of 76%, including the Americas (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%).

On 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 findings, Asia Pacific travellers are the most likely to mix business with leisure while overseas.

22% of Asia Pacific travellers say their most recent trip was for business and leisure, ahead of the global average of 16%.

Vivian Pan, senior director of cross-border and channel marketing, Visa Asia Pacific, said, “Asia Pacific is an extremely well-connected region, and going abroad 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.”

In the past two years, the global survey showed travellers from Singapore took the most leisure trips (95%), followed by those from Hong Kong (92%), South Korea (90%) and Malaysia (90%).

Future Travel Spending from Asia Pacific

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 US$3,501.

Travellers from China, India and Australia are likely to be the top spenders from Asia Pacific countries on their their next trip, (US$4,501 each), which ranks them third globally behind travellers from the United States and Saudi Arabia (US$5,501 each).