One of two travelers are looking at Asia as their most likely destination in the next two years, while 19 percent of them are likely to visit Beijing to watch the Olympics, showed a survey on Tuesday.

 

The annual joint research issued by Visa and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) surveyed more than 5,000 international travelers from 10 key travel markets worldwide, looking at the travel intentions of the respondents.

 

The survey found that 52 percent were considering Asia as their next travel destination in this year or next, a nine percent increase on the previous year's survey results.

 

While 19 percent of respondents said they were likely to visit Beijing for the Olympics, 74 percent of these respondents would consider visiting other destinations in Asia after the Games, such as Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

 

Around two-thirds of those surveyed had already visited Asia, 47 percent of whom had been to Thailand. In fact, Thailand was again rated as the number one destination on travelers' holiday lists, followed by Japan and China, the survey said.

 

One emerging trend from the survey was a desire for travelers to participate in environmentally- and culturally-sensitive travel.

 

Almost nine out of 10 respondents said they would prefer to choose tourism products that showed concern about the impact tourism had on local cultures and customers and also protected the natural environment.

 

Safety is the key area of concern for most travelers. Nearly half of respondents identified terrorism as the top barrier to travel. The destinations most commonly identified as being affected by terrorism were Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, according to the survey.

 

"With events such as the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, unique cultural experiences and the importance of relaxing and environmentally-friendly travel options, it is not surprising that the region continues to attract travelers from around the world," said the survey.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2007)