Monday, 18/01/2010

Figures released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) show that the number of international visitors to the Asia Pacific region grew by 2.2 percent in October 2009 compared to October 2008, improving the overall position for the year (10 months) to just 4 percent down when compared with the same period in 2008.

Within Asia, Southeast Asia recorded a strong 7 percent growth in international visitor arrivals, boosted by another impressive month for Malaysia (up 14 percent) and better results from Indonesia (up 3 percent) and Thailand (up 11 percent). In Northeast Asia, arrivals to Chinese Taipei (up 13 percent) and Korea (ROK) (up 13 percent) maintained strong growth momentum, while arrivals to Hong Kong SAR (up 9 percent) and Macau SAR (up 5 percent) continued to improve.

However, weak arrivals to China (PRC) (up 1 percent) and the sharp declines experienced by Japan (down 11 percent) limited the overall growth rate for the sub-region to a subdued 3 percent. In South Asia, Maldives (up 11 percent), Nepal (up 11 percent) and Sri Lanka (up 7 percent) reported robust growth in visitor numbers in October but India’s tourist numbers were down by 1 percent. As a result, the overall growth for the sub-region was a modest 2 percent, reflecting the dominance of the India inbound travel market in the region.

The Pacific recorded 3 percent growth, with Australia (up 6 percent) and New Zealand (up 8 percent) leading the rebound. However, arrival growth remained depressed for Guam (down 9 percent) and Hawaii (down 0.3 percent). Lastly, arrivals to the Americas are estimated to be down by 3 percent, partly contributed by a 7 percent drop in inbound tourist numbers to Canada. “October marks the third straight month of above-the-line gains for international visitor arrivals to the Asia Pacific region,” said Kris Lim, associate director of PATA’s Strategic Intelligence Centre (SIC).

“The growth rate of 2.2 percent achieved in October is by far the best year-on-year improvement in a very depressed year. For the first 10 months of the year, we are still some 4 percent off the pace in terms of arrivals growth compared to 2008 levels, and about 3 percent off 2007.” “We are expecting stronger gains for the remaining two months of the year and the latest November results from a number of destinations support those expectations. Growth in arrivals is in the double-digit range for Chinese Taipei, Korea (ROK), Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in November,” said Lim.