Latest Asian Travel Survey - Thailand Number 1

How we view travelling to Asia

An Asian Travel Intentions Survey 2007, carried out to explore the perceptions, misconceptions and motivating factors of world travellers towards Pacific Asian travel, has proved revealing.

The survey, which was undertaken in cooperation between the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and VISA, was conducted among 5,050 respondents from 10 nations between February and March 2007.

This included a sample of 500 respondents from Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Britain, U.S.A. and Australia

The highlights of the report included:

• When asked which Asia country they would most like to visit, Thailand ranked first (21%), followed by Japan (13%), China (12%), Hong Kong (9%) Maldives (8%), Singapore (8%), India (8%), Vietnam (5%), Malaysia (4%), Korea (4%), and Indonesia (3%).

• When asked what represented the main barriers to travel, the respondents listed the following factors in descending order of importance: terrorism and its consequences; political unrest; travel warnings; safety and security concerns (other than terrorism); bird flu; general cost of travel; language difficulties and overcrowding.

• When asked to rank the "greatest benefit" of travel to Asia - 22% cited the opportunity to experience other cultures, followed by the natural beauty of the region (18%), relaxation (13%) and the relatively low cost of goods and services (11%).

• A growing cultural consciousness among travellers was reflected by 89% of the respondents saying they would be more likely to choose tourism products (e.g. flights or hotels) that were sensitive to local culture.

• Environmental friendliness also ranked high in the survey with 87% saying they would be more inclined to choose an environmentally friendly tourism product.

• When asked which countries they felt were still severely affected by the 2004 tsunami, 56% of those responding listed Indonesia followed by Thailand (40%), Sri Lanka (39%), and Malaysia (23%).

The survey also showed a lack of sophistication in both current events and geography when 23% of those responding incorrectly cited the Philippines as still being severely affected by the 2004 tsunami when, in fact, that country was completely unscathed by that 2004 disaster.

Peter