South Asia tourism growth slows – PATA
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The growth of international arrivals to South Asia registered a slower growth of 5% during April 2012, according to the latest data from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
The results found that South Asia growth was uneven across the destinations and ranged from a 1% decrease for the Maldives to a 43% increase for Bhutan. India (+3%) posted somewhat slower growth, while Nepal joined Bhutan in posting a double-digit gain in arrivals (+14%).
The South east Asia region was recorded as the fastest growing Asian sub-region, with arrivals increasing 9% during the month. The smaller volume destinations like Cambodia (+24%), Myanmar (+35%), and the Philippines (+10%) surged, while Singapore (+9%) and Thailand (+7%) continued to achieve a steady rate of growth.
International arrivals to Northeast Asia increased 5% during the month, with strong gains in Taiwan (+26%), Hong Kong (+14%), South Korea (+28%) and a resurgent Japan (+164%) boosting the region’s performance. Chinese arrivals climbed 4%, but visitor numbers to Macau fell 2%.
“Global economic conditions continue to be trying, yet travel demand for Asia Pacific destinations continues to generally remain positive albeit with a wide range of performances at both destination and origin market levels. During the first four months of 2012, Asia Pacific destinations added close to nine million additional international arrivals to the collective count putting the region well on the road to yet another record year in terms of foreign inbound numbers. However, the dynamics of these flows are changing and it will be interesting to see just how these play out in the months ahead,” said PATA CEO, Martin Craigs.
