Survey: Outbound travel to rise sharply

A survey by MasterCard projected overseas travel from China will rise 12% year-on-year in the second half of 2008, the second-fastest pace in Asia, state media reported. MasterCard estimated China's outbound travelers will exceed 24.4 million in the second half, due to the fact that inflation and the global credit crunch have not seriously affected income and employment in the country. The report expected Singapore to notch the fastest outbound travel growth in Asia, at 23% in the second half.