PATA and MasterCard launch MasterIndex of travel in Asia Pacific

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and MasterCard have announced the launch of the MasterIndex of Travel in Asia Pacific. This predictive market intelligence is specifically tailored to provide valuable information for the strategic planning needs of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

The MasterIndex of Travel is designed to be an outbound travel forecast tool for the Asia Pacific region. It will provide six-month outbound forecasts for 12 key Asia Pacific markets: Australia, China (PRC), Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (ROK), Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Thailand. Conducted twice a year in June and December, the forecast provides powerful predictive market  intelligence that is highly relevant not only to the travel and tourism sector, but also to related sectors such as retail, entertainment, food and beverage, the hospitality and leisure industry, and manufacturing.

The new MasterIndex of Travel will leverage the success of the MasterIndex of Consumer Confidence - the most comprehensive and longest running consumer sentiment survey in the Asia Pacific region - which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2002. Over the last decade, the MasterIndex of Consumer Confidence has demonstrated its predictive  precision and has proved to be an excellent barometer of the consumer pulse in this region. Today, the survey is much sought after by analysts, academics and decision-makers in financial institutions, government agencies and multi-national organisations.

PATA Managing Director-Strategic Intelligence Centre, Mr. John Koldowski, said: "Amid the current global environment, the travel industry is changing rapidly. PATA is highly conscious of the challenges that confront the industry. The MasterIndex of Travel will deliver high quality information which will help travel operators make sound business decisions."

MasterCard Senior Vice President Corporate Services, Mr. Stuart McDonald, said: "The new MasterIndex of Travel is an integral part of MasterCard’s continuing commitment to Asia Pacific markets. The private and government sectors look to MasterCard as a knowledge centre for influential insights and critical market analysis. Just as MasterIndex of Consumer Confidence has become a vital source of information for  assessment and planning, we believe the MasterIndex of Travel to be equally valuable in the anticipation and understanding of shifts in consumer travel sentiment, and the identification of new market trends."

The objective is to deliver comprehensive data and analysis of the consumer and travel environments built on historical precedent and predictive accuracy. The forecasts will be built on three pillars: 1) the MasterIndex of Consumer Confidence 2) MasterCard’s Asian Lifestyles  twice-early report designed to monitor business and personal travel trends across the Asia Pacific region, and 3) PATA’s database of outbound travel statistics. 

Mr. McDonald said: "As a thought leader in the payments industry and a PATA Premier Partner, MasterCard remains the only payments company to invest in and roll out prognostic research data for planning. We expect that the MasterIndex of Travel will greatly assist travel, tourism and their related businesses in decision-making and strategic planning. This is particularly crucial as the region continues to undergo tremendous challenges that impact travel patterns."