Australia And Japan: Most Desirable Holiday Destinations

Australia and Japan are the most desirable holiday destinations according to the Visa - Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 2010. Forty percent of the 6,714 respondents surveyed said they would consider traveling to Australia(17 percent) or Japan (16 percent)in the next two years.

59 percent respondents from New Zealand picked Australia as their mostly likely holiday destination, followed by UK (29 percent), US (20 percent) and Japan (17 percent).Japan is the top pick for holiday-makers from South Korea (38 percent), Chinese Taipei (34 percent), Thailand (26 percent) and Hong Kong (22 percent).

Other key findings from the survey include:

Travel Style:

• 47 percent arranged trips themselves by booking directly with hotels and airlines.
• Self-organized travel was the top travel style for respondents from the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.
• Flexible individual tours were the next most preferred way to travel (22 percent).
• Packaged group tours were most likely to be booked by travelers from Mainland China (33 percent), Chinese Taipei (29 percent) and Thailand (28 percent).

Trip Duration:

• Most travelers(32 percent) spend three to five nights on vacation.
• Travelers from the UK (29 percent), US (22 percent), and New Zealand (19 percent) tend to take longer trips of between ten to 14 nights.
• Australian travelers were most likely to take the longest breaks – 23 percent of them said their past holiday trips lasted more than 20 nights.

Accommodation:

• Travelers surveyed were most partial to staying at four-star (27 percent) and three-star (21 percent) hotels.
• Respondents from Singapore (47 percent) were most likely to stay at a four-star hotel, while Indian (33 percent) and Malaysian (32 percent) travelers were most likely to pick a three-star hotel.
• Luxury hotels were most popular with travelers from Hong Kong (25 percent) and Chinese Taipei (20 percent).
• Resorts were favored by Korean holiday-makers (25 percent).

Travel Companions:

• Most travelers (48 per cent) tend to holiday with their spouse or partner.
• Holidaying with family and relatives was popular with respondents from Singapore

(42 percent) and Thailand (40 percent), while 35 percent of respondents from India said

they had traveled with their children.

• Respondents from Chinese Taipei (28 percent) and China (26 percent) travelled alone the most during their international holidays.