The Media Habits of Nearly 10 Million of the World's Most Frequent and Affluent Travellers

(Source: Travel Weekly China)

International research consultancy BDRC Group has launched an innovative new study that surveys travellers at their point of purchase through traditional travel agencies, online travel agents (OTAs) and corporate travel management companies (TMCs). With a sample of 16,286 projected to a universe of 9.9 million weekly air travellers, this new technique delivers exceptional data quality, capturing the views of both leisure and business travellers as they make their booking – a method that ensures views, habits and travel motivations are recalled while they are top-of-mind. Media GPS offers media owners and brands a unique opportunity to target outward-looking, frequent-travelling 'global citizens'.

In addition to media consumption, Media GPS captures traveller behavior, including cabin class, purpose of trip, travel motivations, hotel brands usage/preference and many other important travel related consumer attributes. The data reveals which of 45 international media brands and 120+ sub-brands these influential consumers engage with, across locations, channels and devices. The study was made possible with the support of founding clients BBC Worldwide, Bloomberg and CNN.

Key findings from this wave include:

Globally, the average business traveller took over 6 trips, staying an average of 18 hotel nights and the average leisure traveller took over 3 trips, racking up an average of over 13 hotel nights, in the past year.

The average annual household income of these frequent fliers is over US$100,000.

What's on their minds when flying? 4 in 10 are thinking of tempting new food and drinks to experience. 27% are considering buying gifts and holidays for their partner or family – over a third have paid for leisure trips at over $2,000 per person in the past year.

The sample is senior with a very international focus. 47% of respondents work for a company/organization that has sites in more than one country and around a third (32%) have attended meetings abroad with executives from other countries in the last 12 months.

As the sample is so international, consumption of international media is very high. As well as the founder subscribers, other leading news and entertainment brands in Media GPS include Fox, Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, National Geographic, Discovery, A&E and many more.

Markets seen as the most attractive for FDI (foreign direct investment) are voted as China, the US and India. The list is a little different for top tourist destinations – being the US, France and Thailand.