The survey, which canvassed 5,353 individuals worldwide and 1,493 in Asia Pacific, indicated that 58 per cent of Asia-Pacific respondents would be willing to pay more to travel with an airline they liked, with 61 per cent of those claiming to be prepared to pay any amount to travel with a trusted brand.
The figure stood in contrast to 41 per cent of North American participants and a global average of 50 per cent.
With 83 per cent of business travellers found to influence the choice of airline and hotel, the research highlighted the importance of effective messaging from advertisers to the premium sector.
However, the study revealed that two thirds of business travelers continued to fly economy class.
“Although the front end of the plane remains more profitable for airlines, promoting and differentiating economy class from competitors is vital to appeal to the full spectrum of business travelers,” noted Duncan Morris, vice president of market and research for Asia Pacific at Turner.
In addition, Asian travellers were shown to be unlikely to cut back on foreign travel in the coming year despite the unfavourable economic conditions.
79 per cent said they were likely to take an overseas holiday in the region within the next 12 months; last year, Asia-Pacific travellers also exceeded the global average in terms of holiday expenditure at US$4,000 as opposed to US$3,700.
In a statement, CNN International’s vice-president of advertising sales, William Hsu, noted that the results sent “a strong message to tourism boards that smart destination branding is critical for country differentiation and return on investment”.
Hsu indicated that he did not expect see the shadow of swine flu as having any major implications for air travel in the near future, stating that he expected the disease to have “less impact than SARS”.
