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SINGAPORE: High fuel surcharges and inflation are not expected to deter air travel in the Asia Pacific region, according to the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Travel.
In fact, Singapore is expected to show the strongest year-on-year growth of 23 per cent. More than four million departures for leisure and business are expected over the next six months.
Other markets that are expected to register healthy year-on-year growth include China, South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong.
MasterCards's economic adviser, Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, said this is largely due to the fact that income and employment have not been seriously affected by the global credit crunch.
He added that higher inflation has yet to translate into higher prices in plane tickets and costs of accommodation.
However, he said that should these conditions change, he warned the outlook will be very different. - 938LIVE/vm
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