Bangkok is top destination for Asia-Pacific online bookings

Bangkok is top destination for Asia-Pacific online bookings

Bangkok remains the top destination for Asia-Pacific travellers who book flights and hotel rooms online, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore, a survey released on Tuesday showed.

The Indonesian resort island of Bali also kept its position as one of the top 10 destinations for the second consecutive quarter in the survey carried out by ZUJI, a leading online travel portal in the region.

The Indonesian capital Jakarta was in fourth place, followed by Kuala Lumpur and London.

Bali was the seventh most popular destination, trailed by Taipei, Los Angeles and Colombo, Sri Lanka, which rounded up the top 10 list.

Among Australians who booked their travel online, Bali was a "top five" destination", two years after the devastating terrorist bomb attack on the resort that killed 202 people, 88 of them Australian holiday-makers.

The survey on demographic and booking trends in the Asia- Pacific covered the three months to September.

It said 67 percent of those who booked online said they will take at least one business trip this year and an average 15 percent expect to travel for business six more times, partly due to the emergence of budget carriers.

"ZUJI predicts the current online user group will further differentiate during the next 12 months -- driven in part by the anticipated proliferation of low cost carrier airlines across the Asia Pacific region, bringing new consumer segments online," the survey said.

Among the survey's significant findings is the rise in the usage of electronic air tickets. In the September quarter survey, 30 percent of tickets issued were electronic, up from 15 percent during the first quarter.

Ninety-seven percent of travel transactions were paid using credit cards.

ZUJI is a joint venture between 15 major Asia Pacific airlines and Travelocity, an international web-based travel portal. -- AFP