CheapTickets.sg survey reveals more than nine in 10 final-year students are planning to take graduation trips before they embark on a career. More than one in four (26 percent) respondents said they are intending to spend S$3,000 to S$5,000 on their graduation trip.
SINGAPORE – Despite global economic slowdown, graduating students in Singapore are determined to go on graduation trips, according to the CheapTickets.sg Graduation Trip Survey 2012 that surveyed 325 final-year students from various local tertiary institutions.
Graduation trips (or more commonly known as “Grad trips”) take place after students complete their academic pursuits and before they start work, which typically occur in the May to July and December periods.
Deemed as the rite of passage before entering the workforce, more than nine in 10 respondents (97 percent) surveyed said they are intending to go on a graduation trip.
Duration of the graduation trip
With graduation trips being a significant mark in a young person’s transition into the working world, nearly one in three respondents (32 percent) surveyed intend to take one to three months for their graduation trip, followed by three in 10 (31 percent) intending to spend three to four weeks and 23 percent who intend to spend one to two weeks.
Top graduation trip destination: Europe
The survey also showed that Europe was the top destination for students’ graduation trip, indicated by more than half of the respondents (52 percent), followed by Asia (19 percent) and North America (15 percent).
Isabel Gonzalez, Director of CheapTickets.sg, says, “We are looking at a generation of globe trotters who are willing to spend on travel and seeking to seal their last long vacation with their schoolmates before entering the workforce. The grad trip phenomenon in Singapore is becoming more pervasive and we have seen sharp increase in flight bookings on CheapTickets.sg during the usual grad trip periods.”
“Our data also shows that the preferred destinations within Europe include London, Switzerland, Paris and Rome,” Gonzalez adds.
Graduation trip budget
More than one in four (26 percent) respondents said they are intending to spend S$3,000 to S$5,000 on their graduation trip, followed by 23 percent who said they are intending to spend S$5,000 to S$8,000 and 20 percent who said they are intending to spend S$1,000 to S$3,000.
Bearing in mind their financial contraints, more than half of those surveyed (52 percent) said they will consider working abroad, while they are on their graduation trips. Some examples include tertiary institutions’ work and travel programmes to amusement parks, nature reserves, and food and beverage outlets.
A whopping 87 percent intend to fund their graduation trip with their personal savings.
Other key findings from the survey:
– Priorities on graduation trips: Respondents are keen on sightseeing (22 percent), tasting local food (21 percent), relaxation (20 percent), cultural immersion (15 percent), and shopping (14 percent).
– Factors influencing choice of destination: More than one in four (26 percent) are concerned with the safety of destination, followed by the affordability (24 percent), accessbility (17 percent), cost of airfare (15 percent) and location (14 percent).
– Flight bookings: More than four in 10 (44 percent) surveyed prefer to book directly through airlines’ websites, followed by almost two in five (38 percent) who prefer to book through online travel agencies (such as CheapTickets.sg), and 10 percent who prefer to go through traditional travel agencies.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
