Newsroom / News Releases / Passenger Confidence to Travel on the Rise

60 per cent of Malaysian travellers surveyed looking forward to domestic air travel

KUALA LUMPUR, 1 October 2021 – The Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM or the Commission) today released its Consumer Survey results to understand the air travel expectations of consumers, post COVID-19. The survey was carried out between February and May 2021 involving Malaysian respondents who had travelled at least once in the 12 months prior to the survey being conducted and are willing to travel by air in the next 12 months.

MAVCOM’s survey, which was conducted by NielsenIQ, revealed an uptick in anticipation and expectation towards air travel, with 60 per cent of the 1,000 respondents looking forward to travelling domestically. Among the reasons cited for the preference for domestic travel included lower cost of travel, high risk of exposure to COVID-19 when travelling internationally and respondents living with high-risk family members.

The remaining 40 per cent of respondents expressed a preference for international travel. 72 per cent of them were considering visiting destinations within Asia, with the top three countries being Japan, China and South Korea.

The outcome of the survey highlighted that key travel touchpoints within airports need to be redesigned to incorporate crowd control and physical distancing measures, routine sanitisation as well as contactless facilities. The survey also highlighted that the adoption of digital technologies such as paperless travel documents and e-payment facilities, amongst others, were some of the expectations from consumers. In addition, the survey underlined that the enforcement of COVID-19 SOPs in creating a safe end-to-end travel experience is imperative in order to boost passenger confidence.

Datuk Seri Hj. Saripuddin Hj. Kasim, Executive Chairman of MAVCOM said, “While Malaysian travellers are still cautious of the evolving circumstances related to the pandemic and are wary of contracting COVID-19, the outcome of this survey indicates that Malaysians are looking forward to resuming air travel in both domestic and international sectors. With the findings of this study, the Commission hopes that the relevant industry players will continue with their efforts to be vigilant and make appropriate improvements at key travel touchpoints to further strengthen public confidence towards air travel as we move further into the reopening of our skies.”