by Jared Heng
Sheryl Lim, Regional Director Asia, Insight Vacations
Baby boomers, including retirees who have more time to travel, are now not the only dominant group of mobile holiday makers, according to a survey by international tour operator Insight Vacations, a division of The Travel Corporation.
In fact, the survey also noted that young professionals, including those still early in their careers, have been the fastest growing group of travellers in recent years.
The 2010 survey on over 5,000 Singaporean travellers showed that more than a third, or 34 per cent, was young professionals aged between 21 and 42 years old.
This was second only to baby boomers, aged between 43 and 65 years old, who accounted for 48 per cent of the travellers polled.
In addition, female travellers outnumbered their male counterparts, comprising 58 per cent of those surveyed.
“The findings confirmed our observation that as more females are financially independent, they tend to take more leisure trips than the males,” Sheryl Lim, Regional Director Asia of Insight Vacations, said at a media briefing on Tuesday announcing the survey results.
Another finding was that 66 per cent of the survey participants travelled with their spouses, followed by 14 per cent who were accompanied by their friends.
A smaller 12 per cent travelled with relatives, while only 8 per cent travelled alone.
Lim noted that while tours to central Europe remained popular among Singaporean travellers, an increasing number of them are taking Insight Vacations’ eastern European tours.
To meet the demand, the tour operator has started brand new tours to Poland and Ukraine (including Crimea) this year. There are also new additions to its existing UK, France, Spain, and Italy tours in 2012.
“One of the most popular visitor attractions in Crimea is The Swallows Nest, which is a neo-Gothic designed castle and a symbol of Crimea’s southern coastline,” Lim said. “And on this tour, you will also have an opportunity to visit an underground former Soviet submarine base.”
A similar Insight Vacations survey in 2011, the full results of which are still being collated, showed 18 per cent of Singaporean travellers took the tour operator’s eastern European tours that year, up 4 per cent from 2010.
Robin Yap, Managing Director, The Travel Corporation
Insight Vacations expects this proportion to continue increasing from this year onwards.
The 2011 survey also showed a slight increase in the number of Singaporean travellers to the UK last year due to the weakening British pound against the Singapore dollar.
However, the tour operator noted that multiple-country tours have generally been on a downward trend since 2008. While tours to the Eastern Mediterranean have been relatively stable, they took a dip last year due to the political upheaval in the Arab world.
Commenting on the drop in demand for multiple-country tours, Robin Yap, Managing Director of The Travel Corporation, said: “People don’t want to do 10 countries in five days; they want to see each country in greater detail.”
Insight Vacations offers a wide range of alternatives to suit the preferred touring styles of travellers. Its tours cover Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, North America and the Indian subcontinent.
The tour operator noted that its regional tours ‒ for those seeking an itinerary only for a specific region ‒ are becoming more popular.
Customers who have been to Europe many times might also want a more refreshing experience on subsequent trips there. Yap said such travellers could refer to Insight Vacations’ website to decide what tours they liked, before designing their own tours for the tour operator to run.
While Singapore is expected to experience an economic slowdown this year, Yap said he remained confident that the “recession-proof” (premium or high-end traveller) segment of the travel industry would continue to drive tour demand.
He added that such people might want to get inspired during a downturn by going for a holiday.
