UAE travellers now expect to fly less in the future than they had three months ago even as companies are set to slash travel budgets amid the global credit crisis, said a survey by YouGov Siraj, a full-service market research company.

According to the survey, the number of people flying from the UAE remained stable in 2008 when compared to 2007 but this falls far short of how much they had been expecting to travel, the survey found.

In October 2008, around half of business and leisure travellers were expecting to see an increase in travel, today less than quarter are, it added.

In October 2008, 10 per cent of leisure travellers and 9 per cent of business travellers were expecting a drop in the travel numbers. Now that figure has risen to 32 and 33 per cent respectively.

'In just 3 months attitudes have shifted dramatically. What we are seeing is that travellers haven’t yet changed their travel behaviour but they are starting to panic about the future,' says Jane Wilson, director, Travel and Tourism Research at YouGovSiraj.

'With increased nervousness about job security, people now believe they will travel much less. The fact remains that people are still flying but airlines need to work harder to encourage them onto their planes,' she noted.

'Research like this is required more than ever to help travel companies survive in this time of crisis,' she added.

Economy, traditionally the main choice of class for both business and leisure travellers, is expected to be used even more.

About 12 per cent more business travellers are expecting to fly economy than in October 2008, while 7 per cent more of leisure travellers will shift to economy class.

Three months ago, the majority of business travellers were expecting to see an increase in budgets over the next year. Now that attitude has almost reversed with 42 per cent expecting to see a decrease, the survey added.

Regional travel

In order to keep costs down, UAE residents plan to spend their next holiday closer to their country of residence. This means there may be an increase in travel in the region.

This finding comes from another of YouGovSiraj syndicated research tools, ’Reality Check – UAE’, a survey amongst 725 consumers in December 2008.

YouGovSiraj’s ‘Reality Check – UAE’ also shows that UAE residents do believe the economic situation will improve but are bracing themselves for the long-haul.

When asked how the economic situation will change in the future, the majority, 67 per cent of respondents believe it will take two years or more for improvements to be felt.-TradeArabia News Service