South Asia and Southeast Asia Leading Asia Pacific's Tourism Boom

South Asia showed strong growth with a collective gain of 12% in May

Travel News
Travel News

Preliminary results released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) showed that international visitor arrivals into Asia/Pacific destinations1 grew by 4% year-on-year in May 2011, with the South Asia and Southeast Asia sub-regions recording particularly strong performances for the month.

The first five months of 2011 showed South Asia attracted a 15% increase in visitor arrivals. Southeast Asia came second with 12%. Northeast Asia and the Pacific, on the other hand, only managed 3%. Across the whole of Asia/Pacific the average growth in international visitor arrivals was 5% for the first five months of 2011.

Southeast Asia recorded the largest arrivals gain of 16% during the month of May 2011, boosted by a 66% rebound in arrivals to Thailand, as well as by strong demand growth for Vietnam (+37%), Myanmar (+33%), Cambodia (+12%) and Singapore (+11%).

International arrivals to South Asia also showed strong growth with a collective gain of 12% in May, maintaining the same pace of growth seen in 2010. All reporting destinations in this sub-region enjoyed an increase in foreign arrivals, led by Nepal (+47%), Sri Lanka (+39%), the Maldives (+11%) and India (+7%).   

Growth in arrivals to Northeast Asia, however, was a weak 0.6% for the month, highlighting the impact of sharply lower arrival numbers to Japan (–50%) and the decline in the number of Japanese visitors travelling to neighbouring destinations. In addition to Japan, Chinese Taipei (–7%) and China (–1%) also recorded falling arrivals numbers for the month. Conversely, foreign arrivals growth for Hong Kong SAR (+15%), Macau SAR (+9%) and Korea (ROK) (+2%) remained positive during May 2011.

The Pacific sub-region recorded declines in visitor numbers for the month, albeit at a marginal rate of –0.6%, as Guam (–20%), the Northern Marianas (–13%) and New Caledonia (–10%) all reported significant declines in arrivals. Additionally, arrivals to Samoa were down by 5% while New Zealand registered a marginal 0.4% decline. At the other end of the spectrum, Palau (+30%), the Cook Islands (+17%) and the Marshall Islands (+18%) all posted positive results. Arrivals to Australia were also up for the month, albeit at a modest 3%.

Kris Lim, Director of the Strategic Intelligence Centre, PATA, said: “Intra-regional travel remains the key. The dynamic China and India outbound markets continue to expand at a rapid pace with many Indian and Chinese travellers visiting Southeast Asia.”

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