Post-COVID travel to NZ high on the list for Indians, Filipinos

How are people feeling about travel in a post-COVID world? A new report examines travel confidence, a changing travel industry, and top destinations for more than 10,000 people surveyed across 17 countries.

It will come as no surprise that globally, people’s confidence to travel internationally has plunged – but it appears tourists from Asia are the most interested in jumping on a flight when the world opens up.  

In a recently released report Unravel Travel: Fear and Possibilities in a Post-Coronavirus World, researchers from social research agency Blackbox Research, data provider Dynata and language partner Language Connect surveyed more than 10,000 people from 17 countries, including New Zealand.

A key investigation the researchers delved into was travel confidence: whether people were confident to travel internationally, and whether people were confident for others to travel to their own country.

Both Indians and Thais proved the most confident travellers, topping the travel confidence scale with a tied score of 76. At the bottom of the list was Japan, with a score of 40. The global average is 61.

The good news for New Zealand is it rates highly as a destination, along with Australia. When the report was released at the end of July, it noted respondents had a “high trust” in both the Australia and New Zealand governments.  

Indians, Australians, and Filipinos all rated New Zealand highest as a favourite destination once travel restrictions globally eased. The researchers suggested high numbers of Indians may be interested in travel to New Zealand, due to "the large immigration population" within Oceania.     

Source: Unravel Travel: Fear and Possibilities in a Post-Coronavirus World

New Zealanders proved to be on the more reluctant side when it came to travelling, with a confidence score of 55, below the global average. Kiwis rated themselves less confident when it came to travelling overseas within the next month, but were slightly more confident when it came to opening up the country's borders.

For a full copy of the report, contact the Asia Media Centre: media@asianz.org.nz

- Asia Media Centre