Australia and Japan are the preferred tourism destinations for Singaporeans, a new survey has revealed.
MasterCard’s latest study into consumer purchasing priorities found that most Singaporeans chose Australia as their destination of choice, followed by Hong Kong and Japan. If money was not a constraint however, Japan would top the list, followed by London.
“It is little surprise that Australia, Hong Kong and Japan are the top destinations of choice for Singaporeans – packages to these three countries are also highly popular at the biannual NATAS travel fairs,” said Patricia Auyeong, Acting Group CEO of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS). “These countries represent much of what Singaporeans love about travel, whether it is for good food, shopping, sightseeing or even just enjoying different seasons,” she added.
Commenting on results, MasterCard’s General Manager for Singapore, Julienne Loh, noted the trend towards regional destinations. “We can expect hotspots for leisure travel to be in the Asia Pacific region for 2013. Nine out of 10 countries in our list of popular destinations for Singaporeans are in Asia Pacific. Singaporeans would also choose to travel to Japan over London if money was not a constraint, signalling that Singaporeans are embracing the region to discover its hidden gems,” she said.
In terms of frequency of travel, eight in 10 Singaporeans made at least one overseas leisure trip in 2012, while a third of the respondents said they intend to travel more in 2013 than they did in the past. Money and time are the main constraints to travelling more.
Mid-range hotels were identified as the most popular type of accommodation, while sightseeing was the most popular activity, followed by shopping. Transport and accommodation were found to take up the biggest chunks of holiday budget.
