Asia and Pacific region witness 11 per cent growth in visitor arrivals in 2010: PATA

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has released preliminary tourism arrival statistics for Asia and the Pacific for 2010, showing a gain of 11 per cent year-on-year. Compared to the corresponding month in 2009, the number of international arrivals in December 2010 was seven per cent higher. 

South Asia reported the strongest sub-regional arrivals growth for the year with an aggregate gain of 14 per cent reaching an inbound volume count of over 8.4-million. India, which captures 70 per cent of the total foreign arrivals to the sub-region, posted a strong nine per cent increase to set a new record of 5.6-million foreign inbound visits for the year. Sri Lanka (+46 per cent), the Maldives (+21 per cent) and Nepal (+19 per cent) also each set new records in terms of visitor volumes on even stronger growth performances last year.

International arrivals to Southeast Asia were 12 per cent higher for 2010 as compared to a year earlier, reaching a volume count of more than 72-million. All destinations in the sub-region set new arrivals records, with growth in traffic to Vietnam (+35 per cent), Singapore (+20 per cent), the Philippines (+17 per cent) and Thailand (+12 per cent) being particularly impressive. 

Northeast Asia posted full-year arrivals growth of 11 per cent, reaching a foreign inbound volume of more than 218-million. The strong full-year performances were driven by solid results from Chinese Taipei (+27 per cent), Japan (+27 per cent), Hong Kong (+22 per cent), Mongolia (+20 per cent) and Korea (ROK) (+13 per cent), with all of these setting new records. Macau posted a strong 2010 year-end result (+15 per cent) but is still a little behind the inbound count of 27-million set in 2007. 

Kris Lim, Director, Strategic Intelligence Centre, PATA said, “For the travel and tourism industry in Asia and the Pacific, 2010 has been a strong year. The results for Asia are particularly impressive, with all three sub-regions recording double-digit growth in arrivals, underpinned by the recovery in the key regional source markets of Japan and Korea (ROK); the continued expansion of the China and India outbound markets; the continually expanding Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) network in Southeast Asia and a number of global events that took place in Asia such as the Shanghai World Expo in China and the Commonwealth Games in India. 

“The economic outlook for 2011 remains broadly positive but growth in GDP and trade worldwide is expected to moderate, following a robust recovery last year. USA and Europe remain relatively weak, which means the bulk of the inbound growth for Asia Pacific could be intra-regional going forward,” added Lim.