Bangkok--23 Jan--124 COMMUNICATIONS MasterCard Worldwide today announced the results of its latest MasterCard Worldwide Index? of Travel report, predicting steady growth in outbound travel across Asia/Pacific in the first half of 2008, despite the economic uncertainty clouding world financial markets. Markets in which healthy year-on-year growth in outbound travel is anticipated include China (12.4%), Australia (12%), Korea (10.8%), Malaysia (6.8%), New Zealand (6.5%) and the Philippines (5.9%). “Despite volatility in world financial markets, growth in travel remains steady because growth of income and employment is expected to continue during the first half of the year” said Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic advisor to MasterCard Worldwide in Asia/Pacific. Outbound travelers from Asia/Pacific are expected to make over 79.5 million resident departures over the next six months, more than a quarter of which will be made by travelers from China. More Chinese are expected to venture overseas for personal and business travel, with 21.6 million resident departures projected in the first half of 2008, compared with the 17.2 million projected in the same period a year ago. “A huge driver behind the growth of Chinese outbound travel is the expanding middle class. Their numbers are growing exponentially in urban cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, from an estimated 35 million middle class households in 2006 to a projected 100 million households in 2016.This, combined with the availability of low cost travel options means Chinese travelers form a very influential group which is expected to continue to significantly shape trends in the travel industry in 2008 and in years to come ”, said Dr. Hedrick-Wong. Other highlights of the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Travel survey include:THAILAND For the first half of 2008, outbound travel out of Thailand is expected to expand by 3.6% year on year, with 1.9 million outbound travelers forecasted. The favorite personal travel destinations for Thai travelers were China (23.5%) and Hong Kong (23.5%). For business travel, China (25.3%) was the most frequently visited destination, followed by Hong Kong (19.2%) and Singapore (18.7%).OTHER MARKETS China is expected to post the highest rate of year on year growth in outbound travel (12.4%) among all surveyed markets for the first half of 2008. Outbound travelers from China are expected to make over 21.6 million resident departures over the next six months. Australia ranks second in terms of projected year on year growth in outbound travel (12%). Outbound travelers from Australia are expected to make over 2.8 million resident departures over the next six months. Year on year growth in outbound travel for Korea is projected at 10.8%, with some 6.6 million resident departures estimated for the first half of 2008. Taiwan is projected to have year on year growth of 1.2% in outbound travel, with an expected 4.5 million resident departures. For Japan the forecast is 1.8% year on year growth in outbound travel, with some 8.5 million resident departures expected.Personal Travel in the Past 12 Months Respondents in the region continued to name destinations in the Asia/Pacific region (79.9%) as their top choice for personal travel, above destinations in Europe (32.7%) and North America (25%). Similar to previous reports, Japan (24.3%) and Australia (22.3%) remained as popular travel destinations in Asia/Pacific for personal travelers. Regionally, 36.5% of respondents said that they have traveled internationally in the past 12 months. This is almost the same as a period ago and a year ago. Singapore (72.4%), Hong Kong (64.5%) and Thai (55.3%) residents continued to top the list of personal travelers in the past 12 months, as they have for the past seven surveys.Business Travel in the Past 12 Months2 Business travelers said they most frequently traveled to destinations in the Asia/Pacific region (87.9%), followed by destinations in North America (15.1%) and Europe (9.1%) over the past 12 months. China (31.6%), Hong Kong (17.1%), Singapore (15.5%) and Japan (15.5%) continue to remain the top four key destinations for business travelers, as they have been for the last 5 surveys. More Thai residents appear to be traveling internationally for business. Almost half of the respondents (49.5%) said they traveled internationally for business over the past 12 months, compared with 33.8% in the last survey six months ago, and 32% a year ago. Respondents in Singapore (39% vs.42.5% a period ago and 40% a year ago) and Korea (26% vs. 26.8% a period ago and 25% a year ago) rank as the next most frequent business travelers. Singapore Airlines (16.7%) continues to be the most preferred airline for business travelers, as it has been since the Index was launched in 2003. Thai Airways (15.5%) is the next most popular airline, followed by Air China (8%) and Cathay Pacific (7.7%). A total of 5,411 consumers from 13 markets participated in the survey. Fieldwork was conducted between 8 October and 5 November 2007, with a sample of 400 or more consumers in each market, except China where 600 consumers were interviewed. The participants were males and females aged 18 years and above, from the middle and upper income groups.The following chart shows the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Travel forecast for outbound travel for the first half of 2008.