February 26th, 2014, Aisha Qureshi
- UAE (52%), Saudi Arabia (36%) rated top holiday destinations outside Pakistan
- Murree (54%), Kaghan (48%), Islamabad (47%), and Sawat (40%) among most popular domestic holiday destination
- High proportion of online respondents plans to travel with family for their holiday
The majority of online respondents like to travel to places they have not been to before (85 percent) and have been recommended by family and friends (79 percent). More than half say they like to take regular short vacations to unwind and relax (54 percent).
When choosing a holiday destination, online respondents in Pakistan look for affordable travel destinations (63 percent), beautiful scenery (62 percent), and safety and security (58 percent).
With the weather being pleasant in several areas of Pakistan, almost two-thirds of online respondents say they plan to take a holiday in the country within the next 12 months (65 percent). Areas with a moderate climate tend to be the top choices for online respondents; Murree (54 percent), Kaghan (48 percent), Islamabad (47 percent) and Sawat (40 percent). For more than half of online respondents, ‘having fun as a family’ is the top reason to go on holiday outside of Pakistan, followed by an identical proportion who say they plan to go for sightseeing and relaxation (48 percent each).
Almost half of online respondents say they plan to visit a place outside Pakistan (48 percent) for vacation, with UAE as the top choice (52 percent), with a high proportion of single online respondents (60 percent), planning to do so. Over one-third plan to travel to Saudi Arabia (36 percent) for a holiday followed by similar proportion who say Malaysia (23 percent), Turkey (20 percent), Australia (19 percent), United Kingdom (18 percent), Thailand and Canada (17 percent each). Top three reasons for the planned trip include having ‘fun as a family’ (53 percent), to relax (52 percent) and for sightseeing purposes (44 percent).
Nearly half of those who plan to go on holiday outside Pakistan plan to spend more than PKR40, 000 on travel (46 percent), followed by around a fifth who plan to spend the same for shopping (22 percent), accommodation (18 percent) and food (17 percent). Over two-third, amongst those who plan to go for a holiday within Pakistan, plan to spend up to PKR 10,000 on food (69 percent), followed by identical proportion who plan to spend the same amount on shopping and food (51 percent), and for travel purposes (45 percent).
Data collected using the YouGov Omnibus Online Panel during the 6th- 20th January 2014 among 1,004 respondents currently living in Pakistan. The YouGov Omnibus Panel is broadly representative of the online population in Pakistan.