AsiaRooms.com Launches The Inaugural Traveller Confidence Index

Asia Reflects Highest Proportion Of Online Bookings In Polls

AsiaRooms.com, the leading online travel accomodation site based in Asia, offering rooms in over 60,000 properties worldwide, today announced the release of its Inaugural Index Researching Global Travel Trends. The AsiaRooms.com Traveller Confidence Index (TCI) tracks leading indicators for travel propensity, spending confidence, and regional momentum to provide meaningful insights into the travel trends of both consumers and businesses from a demand perspective.

Commissioned by AsiaRooms.com, and in partnership with independent market research firm VisionOne UK, the study surveyed about 15,000 travellers worldwide during the first quarter of 2012. The survey topics focused on respondents’ travel experiences, online booking behaviour, spending and propensity for future bookings.

“As a leader in the online travel accommodation industry, AsiaRooms.com places our customers at the forefront, and focuses on understanding their different needs and wants. Our commitment towards customers has led to the development of this travel index, allowing us and our partners to better respond to the uniqueness of each region’s travellers” said Andrew Pumphrey, Managing Director for AsiaRooms.com.

“The insights derived from the index allow us to develop effective go-to-market strategies, and offer tailored products and services that meets and exceeds the needs of our customers, ensuring they get the right room for their dream holiday, each and every time” explained Clarence Lin, Brand Development Lead for AsiaRooms.com.

The survey covered 29 major travel markets in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region including Japan and Korea, and Oceania.

Asia Leads Online Usage for Bookings; Cost Savings Rank Lower on Priorities

Asia had the highest proportion of respondents having gone online to book for leisure and business accommodation at 70.3%. This compares to a global average of 63.2%; Europe at 63.2%; and Latin America at 51.6%. Within Asia, China had the highest proportion of direct online bookings at 57.5% of respondents, followed closely by Singapore at 57.4% and India at 55% of respondents respectively.

Asian travellers were also the least sensitive to cost with only 29% of respondents in Asia citing cost savings as the key determinant influencing their online bookings. This compares to the global average of 34%; 30.3% in Latin America; and 39.3% in Europe.

Spending and room booking results also reveal a disparity in confidence mirroring the ongoing economic uncertainty in the European and US markets relative to Asia’s strength. Travellers in Asia lead spending with 65.5 index pointsversus 62.9 points in Latin America, 53.3 points in Europe, and 49.3 points in the US.

Singapore led the Asia-Pacific region for overseas leisure travel with a propensity index score of 67.9 points versus Malaysia at 48.3 points, China at 62.8 points, and a global average of 61.4 points.

Latin America Most Bullish for Expected Accommodation Bookings, Followed by Asia

Travellers from Latin America are the most bullish in terms of expected travel accommodation bookings in 2012, leading all other regions with 66.7 index points. This is followed closely by Asia at 61.4 index points, and Europe trailing a large gap at 55.9 index points. Latin America and Asia are the only two regions to surpass the global average of 60.8 index points.

Latin America also leads in all travel categories surveyed, and specifically in domestic (in-country) and leisure travel propensity at 72.5 and 70.6 index points respectively. In contrast, domestic (in-country) and leisure travel propensity in Asia scored 64.7 and 64.6 index points respectively.

US and Europe Show Weakness in Business Travel

Business travellers from Europe and the US were the most pessimistic in terms of travel propensity with 51.8 and 49.8 index points respectively, against the global average of 57.1 index points. Asia and Latin America were ahead of the mean at 58.1 and 62.8 index points respectively.

Similarly, business travellers from Europe and the US expect to spend the least in 2012, with 53.1 and 49.3 index points respectively, against the global average of 62 points.

The compilation of the above data sets has been nominated from a comprehensive set of supplementary findings taken from the AsiaRooms.com Traveller Confidence Index 2012. The initial release of the findings covers macro-view datasets and regional-specific comparisons. Market or in-country specific datasets will be available in subsequent releases from AsiaRooms.com.

About The Index

The AsiaRooms.com Traveller Confidence Index was commissioned by AsiaRooms.com and conducted by VisionOne UK, an independent market research firm.

About 15,000 participants worldwide contributed to the index findings, comprising more than 500 respondents from 29 major travel markets worldwide, including the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and Oceania. Respondents were aged 18 and older, and had used the internet at least once in the past 12 months to search for travel accommodation options. 25 response datasets were used for 2012.

The index is calculated via an assigned value on a scale from 0 to 100, with 100 being the most positive response, and 0 being the least positive response. 50 is the assigned value for neutral responses.

VisionOne UK is an award winning research firm and an accredited member of the UK Market Research Society (MRS) and MRS Company Partners. Vision One Research operates a quality management system and is bound by the rules and regulations of the UK’s Market Research Society (MRS). In addition, Vision One is committed to meeting the requirements of:

UK Data Protection Act 1998
European Directive EU 95.46/E
ESOMAR (The World Association of Research Professionals)

About AsiaRooms.com

AsiaRooms.com is a leading online travel accommodation site based in Asia, offering an extensive and diverse range of accommodation options at exceptional value.

With more than 60,000 properties available at the click of a mouse via AsiaRooms.com’s simpler and more user-friendly online booking portal in five different languages, customers can book now and pay later, with no cancellation fees.

In addition, customers will receive instant confirmation of their booking. AsiaRooms.com is supported by a multi-lingual 24 hour call centre staffed by travel experts equipped to provide advice and assistance throughout the booking process.

AsiaRooms.com also offers a comprehensive country-by-country travel guide complete with details on interesting things to do, a listing filled with must-visit places, a currency guide, and genuine guest reviews, amongst other useful travel information and tips.

AsiaRooms.com is part of TUI Travel PLC, a leading international leisure travel group headquartered in the UK and listed on the London Stock Exchange. TUI Travel PLC operates in over 180 countries, serving more than 30 million customers, and employs over 50,000 people.