The number of international travellers from the Asia Pacific will grow strongly in the first half of 2005 as the region's strong economic growth continues, a MasterCard survey released Wednesday said.

China, Japan and Indonesia will post the biggest rises in people heading overseas for work and leisure, with outbound travel across all 12 key regional markets to grow by more than 16 percent, according to the bi-annual survey.

The other nine markets included in the survey are Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, New

Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

"As outbound travel becomes an integral part of people's lifestyle and personal disposable income rises, the growth in volume and expansion in destination choices will also gain momentum," said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic advisor to MasterCard International in the Asia Pacific.

"The outlook of outbound travel is very robust for the first half of 2005, corresponding well with a strong economic outlook for the region."

China's outbound travel market is expected to expand at the fastest

pace in the region with 33.6 percent annualised growth in the first six months of 2005, MasterCard said.

Outbound travel from Japan, the second-fastest growing market, will increase 19.8 percent followed by Indonesia at 18.9 percent.

Malaysia's outbound market will grow 18.6 percent, Hong Kong 18.5 percent, New Zealand 18.3 percent, Taiwan 16.5 percent, Thailand 12.6 percent, Singapore 12.5 percent, Australia 12.4 percent, South Korea 12.1 percent and the Philippines 9.8 percent.

Mastercard surveyed more than 5,500 people from the region's urban middle classes to obtain its data.