Asia Pacific Tourism Trends for H1 2009

The latest figures released by PATA show that the number of international visitor arrivals to Asia Pacific fell by an estimated 6% in the first six months of 2009 compared to H1 2008.

All five sub-regions of Asia Pacific posted declines in visitor numbers for the first half year of 2009, with South Asia recording the largest fall at 8.1%. In the Americas, visitor volumes fell by 7.7% while Southeast Asia reported a 5.7% decline in arrivals. This latter figure is influenced largely by double-digit reductions in the markets of Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The largest sub-region in Asia Pacific, Northeast Asia, registered the smallest rate of decline at 5.2%, but lost more than five million international arrivals in volume terms.

Visitor arrivals to China PRC, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Japan were down but Chinese Taipei and Korea ROK bucked the trend with double-digit growth at 10% and 15% respectively. The Pacific recorded a year-to-date visitor number decline of 6.6%, hurt by steep falls in arrivals to Hawaii (–10%) and Guam (–15%).

According to PATA Chairman Mrs Phornsiri Manoharn, “At the midway point of 2009, Asia Pacific has lost 6% in international arrivals which in real terms equates to almost 10.5 million fewer visits to our shores, reflecting the extremely challenging operating environment. There is however some cause for cautious optimism for the second half of the year as the global economy is currently showing more stability with some signs of nascent growth.”

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