More than 50 per cent of UAE travellers will spend more on family holidays in the next 12 months, said a recent survey conducted by Global payments’ technology company Visa.

The company will deliver a snapshot of the findings from its latest 'Affluent Study' on the opening day of the Arabian Travel Market 2014 on Monday.

During its online survey, Visa interviewed over 300 credit card-holders in the UAE, both male and female, between the ages of 18-55 years old.

Over 130 of the respondents had household incomes between Dh200,000 and Dh300,000 (between $54,440 and $81,661) per annum and more than 170 respondents had household incomes of Dh300,000 and above per annum.

“One interesting feature of the study that I can reveal ahead of our presentation at Arabian Travel Market, is that in 2013 family holidays had the third highest spending incidence among affluent respondents in the UAE," commented Marcello Baricordi, the general manager UAE and Global Accounts Lead at Visa (Mena).

"About 89 per cent took an overseas holiday in the last year with India, US, Turkey, Maldives and France as the most popular destinations," he stated.

“In terms of expected spending on family holidays over the next 12 months, half of UAE affluent respondents said they would be spending more than the previous year,” he added.
 
Premium travel and hospitality is the theme of this year’s ATM show with the launch of ‘Spotlight on Luxury’. The up-scale focus will bring together luxury brand exhibitors, targeted luxury buyers and visitors along with a number of special seminar sessions exploring the high value market segment for both inbound and outbound travelers.

“The UAE’s hospitality profile in many ways is defined by its number of five-star luxury hotels, fine dining restaurants, celebrity chefs and designer labels. Discerning UAE residents are now demanding similar levels of luxury when travelling abroad and they are willing to pay for it,” said Mark Walsh, the portfolio director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of ATM.

“Besides the VISA seminar, we will be holding several other luxury-themed sessions, which will examine key opportunities in the global luxury travel arena and what this means for inbound and outbound tourism in the Gulf,” added Walsh.

One such session entitled ‘Luxury on Trends’ will be held on May 6 at 12.15pm -13.15pm, featuring a panel of luxury experts including Simon Lynch, the director of Business Development, Abercrombie & Kent; Travel Attaché CEO, Liam Wholey and The Travel Collection owner & MD, Jacqueline Campbell.-TradeArabia News Service