The top two destinations for outbound travellers remain as China, Thailand while Hong Kong has replaced Indonesia in third position this year. Countries reporting double digit growth in overseas visitors were Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam respectively.
SINGAPORE – According to GfK’s Travelscan data for March 2016, the Singapore outbound travel market in first quarter this year grew 6.7 percent when compared with the same period last year.
The top two destinations for outbound travellers remain as China, Thailand while Hong Kong has replaced Indonesia in third position this year. Countries reporting double digit growth in overseas visitors were Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam respectively.
Within the developed markets, Japan had experienced the highest growth due to currency exchange effects against the Singapore dollar which makes the country more attractive in terms of spending power for Singapore travellers. The aggressive marketing activities from local travel agencies no doubt also helped make Japan more appealing.
“Based on region, Southeast Asia remains the most travelled region as Singapore travellers still prefer to travel more often on shorter trips that requires less and shorter planning time”, highlighted Anthony Tan, APAC Lead for Travel and Hospitality.
In the past year, seasonal trends remain intact except for the months of January, February and October where reports showed a variance of over 10 percent in travel bookings.
Forward bookings for the next six months of 2016 (Mar – Sept) grew 13 percent and reflected a strong surge between Apr-Jun this year compared to 2015. Meanwhile, the first quarter of 2016 saw an increase of 6% while second quarter to date already reports a jump of 14.2 percent over last year.
Japan is leading the way with 68 percent increase in travellers from Singapore while China remains the top destination; growing at 7 percent. The recent terrorist attacks in central Jakarta appear to have taken a toll on travel bookings as a decrease of 9 percent is seen from last year. Taiwan also reported a 17 percent drop in travellers from Singapore after the recent presidential elections observed by Tan.
Overall, the sentiments for outbound travel bookings in the first quarter of the year have improved. Outlook based on forward travel bookings for period of April to September 2016 also positive. However, given the recent financial turmoil and rising global oil prices adding pressure on aviation companies, rising travel costs may slow down the growth traction in the earlier part of the year and paint a different picture as we move into further into 2016.
TravelDailyNews Asia-Pacific editorial team has an experience of over 35 years in B2B travel journalism as well as in tourism & hospitality marketing and communications.
