Results from the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Travel report, predict steady growth in the number of outbound travelers across Asia Pacific for the second half of 2008 despite the inflation pinch felt all across the region.

China is expected to show the second strongest year-on-year growth of 12%,  right after Singapore with expected growth of 23%. Other markets that are anticipated to register healthy year-on-year growth include Korea (11%), Thailand (10%) and Hong Kong (6%).

“In spite of global economic uncertainty and rising inflation, outbound travel in Asia Pacific is poised for steady growth over the rest of 2008. This is largely due to the fact than income and employment have not been seriously affected by the global credit crunch; and higher inflation has yet to translate into higher prices in plane tickets and costs of accommodation. Should these conditions change, however, the outlook will be very different,” observed Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic advisor to MasterCard Worldwide in Asia Pacific.

Outbound travelers from Asia Pacific are expected to make around 88.3 million resident departures in the next six months, with Malaysia and China together expected to account for more than half of the departures. Malaysians are expected to make 25.2 million departures for personal and business travel in the second half of 2008, the highest levels anticipated in the region. China is a close second with 24.4 million projected resident departures for the next six months.

Released twice a year, the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Travel consists of a forecast on outbound travel for the six month period ahead for 12 Asia Pacific markets, and a survey of business and personal travel trends among the urban middle class across 13 Asia Pacific markets.