KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — A survey that looks at the travel habits of 50,000 people around the world has revealed that Western and Asian globetrotters have different priorities when it comes to travel necessities.
When asked in an Agoda.com survey to identify the one item they couldn’t travel without, 45 per cent of Asian respondents said their cellphone was their priority.
Japanese travellers were the exception, being the only group in Asia to choose credit cards (38 per cent) over their phones (28 per cent).
Western respondents in the Americas and Europe, however, agreed that the credit card was the one item they could not leave behind.
Overall, nearly half (47 per cent) of respondents in Europe cited their credit card as their single travel necessity versus 19 per cent for their mobile phones. A notable disparity is observed in France: 58 per cent picked their credit card, versus just 9 per cent who picked their phone.
Where travellers around the world are agreed is on the least important travel necessity: toiletries.
Agoda is a Malaysian online hotel booking site with a network of 360,000 hotels worldwide.
Here are the survey results:
Asia
Mobile phone 45 per cent
Credit card 29 per cent
Laptop or tablet 11 per cent
Good book 5 per cent
Toiletries 5 per cent
Americas
Mobile phone 19 per cent
Credit card 44 per cent
Laptop or tablet 18 per cent
Good book 9 per cent
Toiletries 5 per cent
Europe
Mobile phone 19 per cent
Credit card 47 per cent
Laptop or tablet 13 per cent
Good book 9 per cent
Toiletries 6 per cent
— AFP-Relaxnews