SINGAPORE — As the year-end nears, Milieu Insight released the results of their “Festival Sentiments & 2022 Outlook” study with N=6000 people across Southeast Asia to find out about vaccination status considerations for year-end celebrations, their outlook for 2022 and the concerns they have. (N=1000 respondents each from Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia).
According to the study, 65% of people across Southeast Asia intend to join in-person year-end celebrations with their loved ones, among which 51% will only join if all attendees are fully vaccinated, while 49% will do so regardless of the attendees’ vaccination status.
However, opinions are mixed across the 6 countries. While only 43% of Singapore residents indicated that they will only join their loved ones for year-end celebrations if everyone is vaccinated, other countries are more cautious, registering a higher percentage of respondents who shared the same opinion, highest being Malaysia at 64%.
40% of Southeast Asians prefer if everyone is vaccinated but will join regardless, while 9% indicated they didn’t care about the vaccination status at all.
Some results of the study include:
- Hope emerged as the top emotion that people feel towards 2022. The Philippines in particular (41%). While people are hopeful that the Covid-19 situation will improve, they are also reserved about it – uncertainty is also one of the top 3 voted emotions in most SEA countries, particularly in Singapore (29%), Thailand (23%) and Malaysia (11%).
- The state of the local economies ranked among the top 5 concerns Southeast Asians have for 2022, which also includes impact on household income, uncertainty over how long Covid-19 will last and the health of loved ones. Among them, Thais are most concerned about the local economy (57%) and household income (62%).
Commenting on the study’s findings, Gerald Ang, CEO of Milieu Insight, said, “It was fascinating to see that people’s economic outlook mirrors their overall sentiments towards the new year – hopeful, yet cautious not to be overly optimistic. While many are expecting their local economies to recover, their spending intent remains conservative. After two years of living in uncertainty, people are likely to be more cautious about what to expect next. That said, 2021 has been filled with progresses and setbacks, and as countries inch towards finding success in living with Covid-19, people in Southeast Asia are remaining hopeful that we will be able to overcome the challenges ahead.”
