Chinese Internet users happy to share personal data - for a price

• Those aged 30 to 40 are most likely to share data for rewards
• China, Mexico and Russia lead for people willing to share data

Over a quarter (27%) of Internet users across 17 countries strongly agree that they are willing to share their personal data in exchange for benefits or rewards like lower costs or personalised service. This contrasts to 19% who are unwilling to share data.

GfK asked people online to indicate how strongly they agree or disagree with the statement, "I am willing to share my personal data (health, financial, driving records, energy use, etc.) in exchange for benefits or rewards like lower costs or personalised service" - using a scale where "1" means "don't agree at all" and "7" means "agree completely".

Equal percentages of both men and women are firmly willing to share their data in return for benefits - both standing at 27%. However, more women than men class themselves as firmly unwilling, standing at 21% of women versus 18% of men.

People in their twenties and thirties are most likely to share their data, with a third saying they are firmly willing to do so (33% in their twenties and 34% in their thirties). They are followed by those aged 15 to 19 years old, at 28%.

People in China are most ready to share their personal data in exchange for benefits, with 38% of the online population saying they are firmly willing to do so and 8% firmly unwilling.

Other Asian countries polled included Japan and China.

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Download findings for each of the 17 countries

GfK finds Singapore travellers often plan less than a month ahead

A Jetstar plane at Changi Airport, Singapore.

Businesses could save money on some travel costs by taking a leaf out of consumer travel books. A GfK study has revealed that around 76% of trips from Singapore have been made by travellers no more than a month ahead of the actual travel date.

“The high incidence of trips being booked within a few weeks of travel is likely due to the availability of discounted airfare for last-minute flights by airlines, which are increasingly common nowadays,” observed Laurens van den Oever, Global Travel Director at GfK. “Such promotions are often quickly snapped up by holiday-seekers, especially those who are familiar with the destinations for free and easy leisure travel for weekends or during public holidays.”

GfK also found that four in five (80%) do their travel research online while the next popular method is by talking to personal contacts such as friends, relatives and colleagues (40%). Other less common mentions are travel agency (20%), travel fair (20%) and articles in newspapers (20%). One third of respondents relied solely on Internet research, but 17% shared that they only utilise offline methods. Half of all respondents use both methods.

“Traditional brick-and-mortar travel agents remain popular for travel packages to other regions apart from Asia and Europe, as confirmed by a small group of less than a third of respondents,” said van den Oever. “Our findings showed that consumers are more inclined to receiving assistance for their bookings and planning from the agencies when traveling to unfamiliar regions as this provides some level of assurance.”

*The GfK Consumer Travel Tracker research was conducted in Singapore over April and May, and is based on tracked outbound travel data from the pre-booking to actual booking and transaction stages, conducted among 500 respondents who have made a travel booking in the last three months.