MasterCard Research Explores Development of Synergies between Travel and Retail

In this context, a competitive, exciting, and attractive retail industry would contribute significantly to the appeal of a tourist destination. Spending Patterns Of the four cities, Bangkok recorded the highest average visitor-stay of eight days and the lowest average spend of US$90. Visitors stayed in Seoul for an average of 5 ½ days but spent an average of US$180, the highest among the four cities. Visitors to Hong Kong and Singapore stayed for less than three days on average, and spent an average of US$170 and US$130, respectively, during their stays. More than 50% of the average spent in Singapore and Hong Kong was on shopping and less than 5% on sightseeing and entertainment. While visitors to Bangkok and Seoul spent more than 17% on sightseeing and entertainment, and 28% and 45%, respectively, on shopping. Emerging Trends The four cities continue to see increase in the number of Chinese visitors to their shores. The study showed that if current growth trends were sustained, by 2011, there would be more than 24.3 million Chinese visitors to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Seoul. Japanese tourists, in contrast, are expected to increase only marginally, to 5.7 million by 2011. This trend will have implications for evolving the relationship between visitor arrivals and their shopping experience. The shopping-dollar-spend in the four cities is expected to increase by 8% per annum from US$14 billion in 2006 to US$20 billion in 2011. Hong Kong will maintain its lead in shopping, with a projected US$11 billion in 2011, followed by Bangkok at US$3.5 billion, Seoul at US$3.1 billion and Singapore with US$2.9 billion. Future Positioning The study found that accessibility and cost are two important factors that affect visitors arrivals. The report showed that traveling time of five hours is the maximum that shoppers would be willing to fly for a shopping experience. For visitors to make longer journeys, destinations would need to offer other attractions such as entertainment, cultural, beach or winter sports. However, the advent of budget airlines across Asia/Pacific could be the solution to the accessibility and cost issues, and significantly influence shopper-visitor flows. The increasing popularity of budget airlines among cost conscious visitors may cause an increase in the frequency and pool of shoppers willing to travel to a destination to shop due to an increased in affordability and convenience.