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Dubai: Tourism and payments card industry officials on Monday allayed fears that the rising cost of living will dampen consumer interest in travel this year.
The latest MasterCard Consumer Lifestyles Survey revealed that more people in the UAE are planning to increase spending on travel this year.
The survey, conducted between October 1 and 23, 2007, found that 78 per cent of UAE consumers planned to travel for personal reasons in the months up to September this year, while a minority, about 5 per cent, planned to travel for business and 8 per cent for both.
The number of consumers willing to spend more on travel increased from 88 per cent to 99 per cent, with more than half (51 per cent) anticipating an 11 to 25 per cent spending hike.
Likewise, the number of UAE consumers planning to increase their spending by 26 to 50 per cent climbed to 29 per cent from 23 per cent in the previous survey. Spending on business travel will also grow, as the number of consumers willing to spend more increased from 80 per cent to 95 per cent.
Across the Middle East and Levant, 91 per cent of those surveyed said they were going to spend more on personal travel than they did previously. About 61 per cent were looking at air travel out of the country for personal reasons, up from 56 per cent in 2006. About five per cent intended to go on business trips and 16 per cent for both.
Not discouraged
"Only 19 per cent in this sub-region do not plan to travel at all in the next 12 months, which is down from 26 per cent a year ago, which is great news," said Thomas Edelmann, MasterCard vice president for commerce development in South Asia, Middle East and Africa.
Bency Kurian, Octopus Travel general manager for Middle East, North Africa and Turkey said, the economic crunch is not discouraging people to spend more on travel, as their disposable incomes grow.
"From the MasterCard figures and from what we are experiencing, people are spending more. Sure, obviously the costs have gone up, but it doesn't seem to have dampened travel interest. And I'm not just speaking from Octopus Travel. Our competitors, people that we've worked with - they all experience the same thing. Airline bookings have gone up tremendously as well," Kurian told Gulf News.
"The figures are confirming that today, the travel industry is a very healthy industry to be in," said Siegfred Nierhaus of Radisson SAS Hotel.
MasterCard's survey is part of the biannual MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence that was conducted in Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The survey found Middle East and Levant residents preferred travelling in June and July. However, Saudis and Lebanese showed a big affinity in April, but further peaks can be seen around the New Year season.
The consumers' top 10 destinations were India, Egypt, Australia, Malaysia, Turkey, Syria, UAE, Lebanon, Cyprus and France.
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