Travel plans continue to decline in the Philippines with only 35 percent of adults planning to take at least one trip in the next three months, according to Finder's Travel Index.

Tourists and locals enjoy the white-sand beach of Boracay Island as travel restrictions have been eased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Tara Yap / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

According to independent comparison platform Finder, the latest data is down from the all-time high 43 percent recorded last July and the lowest travel interest among Filipinos since the index started in February this year.

The country's travel and tourism industry has been among the hardest hit by the ongoing health crisis due to travel restrictions being imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Based on Finder's survey conducted last August, plans for both domestic and international travel are falling as Filipinos planning to travel domestically hit 25 percent, down from 30 percent in July.

The survey also revealed that only 14 percent of Filipinos plan to travel internationally in September, October, and November, down from the 17 percent who had travel plans back in July.

Interest in travel among Filipinos is falling compared to last month. Finder's August Travel Index reveals that 35% of Filipinos say they plan to travel in the next three months, down from 43% in the July survey.

Angus Kidman, Finder.com's editor-at-large, noted that the drop in travel interest coincides with the introduction of harsher quarantine measures and movement restrictions back in early August.

Over the same period, most other countries included in the survey saw the percentage of people with travel plans remain flat or even increase month-on-month, making the Philippines one of the few exceptions to the trend.

"The only other countries where we saw a drop in travel plans are the US, the UK, India, and Singapore. However, the Philippines experienced the second-largest drop, behind only Singapore where travel plans declined from 44 percent to 20 percent," the survey results read.

Finder’s Travel Index is an ongoing survey, which has so far gathered responses from over 170,000 people in 19 countries. The full report can be viewed here.

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Travel plans continue to decline among Filipinos — survey