According to Finder.com’s Finder’s Travel Index, 31.08 per cent of those surveyed had plans to travel domestically, while 17.8 per cent planned to travel internationally. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri
Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on news you need to know.
KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — Following the announcement yesterday that several movement control orders will be put in place nationwide, a “financial comparison site” has revealed that 44.36 per cent of Malaysians in a recent survey had plans to travel in May, June or July.
According to Finder.com’s “Finder’s Travel Index”, 31.08 per cent of those surveyed had plans to travel domestically, while 17.8 per cent planned to travel internationally.
The proportion of people who had both domestic and international plans was 4.52 per cent.
Comparatively, when the survey was conducted earlier for the months of April, May and June; only 28 per cent had domestic travel plans while 15 per cent had international travel plans.
Among the 19 countries surveyed by Finder.com, Malaysia showed the highest percentage of those waiting to travel within the months of May, June and July. This was followed by India (41.15 per cent) and the Philippines (38.58 per cent).
The three countries with lowest proportion of people wanting to travel were New Zealand (19.60 per cent), Singapore (19.33 per cent) and Canada (16.49 per cent)
In a statement, Finder’s editor-at-large Angus Kidman said the number of Malaysians planning to travel has consistently been one of the highest of any of the other countries included in the study.
“This is the second month in a row Malaysia has seen one of the highest percentage of people with short-term travel plans, ahead of countries such as India and the Philippines.
“In May alone, nearly a quarter of Malaysians are planning to travel around the country. In June and July the percentage of people with domestic travel plans is set to taper off to just eight per cent and six per cent, suggesting Malaysians were centring their travel plans around Hari Raya celebrations.
“With government restrictions recently changing, your location will determine if you can actually make that trip. Our data suggests that many Malaysians are holding out hope they will be able to travel,” he said.
Finder.com is part of Finder ROW Pty Ltd, which claims to provide factual information and comparisons on products and services.
Its Finder’s Travel Index has been conducted from February this year, and has so far gathered responses from 88,966 people across 19 countries, aged from 18 to over 65.