TripAdvisor™ today announced the results of the TripBarometer¹ study, the world’s largest accommodation and traveller survey¹.Conducted on behalf of TripAdvisor by independent research firm Ipsos, the TripBarometer study is the analysis of more than 44,000 global responses from travellers and the hotel sector, with 9,283 respondents from the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The TripBarometer ‘Global Travel Economy’ report reveals worldwide travel trends at country, region and global levels, highlighting year-on-year changes in consumer spending plans and trip planning, as well as hotelier confidence.

“The TripBarometer report paints a positive picture for travel this year, with travellers twice as likely to be increasing their vacation budgets than cutting spend,” said Barbara Messing, cmo, TripAdvisor. “Across the board, people want to take more international trips and Australia, Italy and the US continue to be the destinations topping travellers’ wish lists.”

More travellers increasing their travel spend than decreasing

Globally, two in five travellers are planning to spend more on travel in 2015 than they did last year, with travellers twice as likely to increase rather than decrease their travel budgets. Two in five travellers both globally (41%) and in the Asia-Pacific (42%) plan to up their travel budgets in 2015, while 23 percent globally and 20 percent in APAC say they will decrease their spend.

According to the study, APAC countries with the highest increase in travel budget in 2015 are: Thailand (54%; ranked #2 globally), India (53%; ranked #4 globally), New Zealand (51%; ranked #5 globally), and Australia (50%; ranked #6 globally).

Of those APAC travellers who are planning to spend more, 41 percent will increase their budgets because they feel vacations are something they or their family deserve, and 37 percent say it is because they are going somewhere on their ‘wish list’ this year. Twenty-eight percent of those cutting spend this year say they do not have enough money saved, while 26 percent plan to visit less expensive countries.

Within the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, New Zealand and China are the top three countries with the most travel budget in 2015, followed by Japan (USD5,700), which is ranked 11^th globally.

International trips on the rise but domestic travel still dominates

Travellers in Asia-Pacific are planning to do more travelling abroad, with the average number of international leisure trips set to increase by 15 percent in 2015, which is in line with the global average. In looking across the globe, travellers in Turkey, India, and New Zealand are showing the highest increase in the average number of international trips they are planning this year, while Russians, Thais and Austrians are decreasing the average number of international trips they will take in 2015. Globally, however, domestic travel still outpaces international travel, as nearly 60 percent of all trips planned in 2015 will be taken in travellers’ home country.

Time and money biggest obstacles to taking dream holiday

Australia, the United States and Italy are the top three dream destinations for global and APAC travellers in the next 24 months, if money were no object. In the Asia-Pacific region, nearly three in five APAC travellers (58%) say they are saving money to go on their dream holiday and 49 percent of them are waiting until they have more time to explore the destination properly. Currency exchange rates are a barrier for 19 percent of APAC travellers hoping to visit their dream destination, while one in ten are waiting for their children to be older before taking that once-in-a-lifetime trip.

These obstacles to travel may affect more than just the dream vacation; the report highlights that every year, more travellers plan to take international trips than ultimately go on them. Comparing this year’s results to last year’s, it’s clear that while travelers’ plans for domestic trips in 2014 closely resemble the amount of trips actually taken in the year, there is a bigger gap between intentions to take international trips vs. actually going on them, and APAC travellers are no exception.

Hotelier Confidence Index

A new feature of this year’s TripBarometer is the Hotelier Confidence Index, which measures confidence levels across the global hotel sector in 27 major tourism markets. The index looks at hoteliers’ profitability expectations, year on year shifts in room rates and investment plans for 2015. Each country is given a score on a five-point scale (five being the highest) and ranked, to show how they compare to other key tourism markets.

Looking at the overall Hotelier Confidence Index rankings, Indonesia ranks number one in the world, followed by India and Mexico.Optimism is riding high for Asia-Pacific’s hotel sector with seven in ten (70%) of businesses feeling optimistic about their profitability in 2015. According to the study, one in two businesses in Asia-Pacific (50%) intends to increase their room rates in 2015 – often a strong sign of health in the hotel sector.  

Online reputation is top priority for majority of hoteliers

The report shows that investment is set to increase across many aspects of the hotel sector in 2015, however the planned increase in investment for online reputation management is most notable worldwide.  In line with the global average, three in five APAC hoteliers (61%) will spend more on online reputation management in 2015.  When asked which elements they feel are most important to the future of their business, online reputation is cited as important by 91 percent of APAC hoteliers.

“This year’s TripBarometer reveals a rising confidence in the global hotel sector, with one in two hoteliers raising room rates and a significant growth in optimism worldwide,” said Marc Charron, president, TripAdvisor for Business. “Increasing repeat business, driving more direct bookings, and encouraging online traveller reviews will be key themes for the hotel sector this year.”

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¹Methodology: The TripBarometer study, by TripAdvisor, is based upon an online survey conducted from 16 January to 2 February 2015, conducted by Ipsos, a global research firm. A total of 44,277 interviews were completed in 32 markets, spanning 7 regions. The sample is made up of 34,016 consumers who are TripAdvisor website users and Ipsos online panelists who chose to take part in the survey and have researched their travel plans online in the last year; and 10,261 representatives from accommodation properties who use TripAdvisor free marketing services, making it the world’s largest combined accommodation and traveller survey. The consumer survey data is weighted to represent the known profile of the global online population, to keep in line with previous waves of TripBarometer. Equal weighting is also applied at country level for the business survey. For additional information about TripBarometer, please visit www.tripadvisor.com.sg/tripbarometer and download the global report.

²Domestic spend calculated by applying the proportion of trips that will be domestic to a traveller’s estimated 2015 travel spend.