Asian tourists lead travel spending surge
The lure of cross-border travel among Asian travellers is outweighing financial factors and driving increased travel spending, a new study has found.
In its latest Travel Intentions Study for 2013, Visa found that a traveller’s budget is longer among the top three reasons for the choice of holiday destination, with the lure of attractions, scenery and culture becoming stronger reasons for travel.
Travellers across the world intend to increase budgets for their next trip by an average of 5%, but within Asian markets this increased to 46%, with travellers from Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong all planning to at least double the budget of their last trip in the future.
According to the Study, which surveyed 12,631 travellers from 25 countries, the average global travel budget of US$2,390 per trip is set to increase to US$2,501. But travellers from the Asia Pacific region as a whole are now spending more than anyone else, spending an average of US$273 per day – higher than both the global average (US$239) and any other region. On average, Australians are some of the world’s highest spenders, forking out US$4,118 per trip, with and Chinese travellers (US$3,824) not far behind.
Survey respondents from the Asia Pacific region also indicated the strongest intention (77%) to travel more in the future, with residents from nine of the region’s markets stating a higher intention to travel than the global average. Much of this increased travel is expected to take place within the region, where 80% of Asian travellers have chosen to take trips in the last two years.
“Global economic woes have been well-documented over the past few years but our Visa Global Travel Intentions Study 2013 hints at a change in both the financial landscape and consumer mindset, suggesting either economic recovery or a growing appetite for larger travel budgets. Both provide excellent news for everyone involved in the global travel and tourism industry,” commented Ross Jackson, Visa’s Head of Cross-Border in Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East & Africa.
The US ranked as the most popular destination choice for global travellers, both for trips taken in the past two years (17%) and for intended travel in 2013 (10%). Other top destinations in 2011 and 2012 included the UK (12%), France (12%) and China, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong (all 10%). Looking ahead, Visa stated that 31% of global travel is expected to be to Asian countries, with new regional destinations such as Australia (4%) and Korea (3%) now making it on to the latest list.